Where are we in the Universe?

You might have seen those charts (with an arrow that says that you are here) and Youtube videos that try to explain where we are in the universe. I think they're funny. Some atheist said that if there is a God He couldn't find us because we're lost in the vastness of hundreds of billions of galaxies in a universe that's so large it's mind-boggling.

We all know that we're on the planet Earth, orbiting an average dwarf star that's orbiting an average spiral galaxy that's in the local group that contains the Milky Way (our galaxy), Andromeda and Triangulum plus many dwarf galaxies. Our local group of galaxies is roughly part of the Virgo supercluster of galaxies, which belongs to an even larger supercluster structure called the Laniakea (immeasurable heaven in Hawalian). This huge cluster (more than 100,000 galaxies) extends out to 160 million parsecs and it's next to another supercluster called Perseus-Pisces. A parsec is equal to 3.26 lightyears or 19 trillion miles. So, this is quite a distance away. Now, the edge of the observable universe is 28,000 million parsecs away. We have no idea what's beyond because the light from there hasn't gotten back to us as yet. It doesn't help that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate.
What's really amazing is that our galaxy, along with most of those in the Virgo cluster, is being pulled toward the 'Great Attractor' region of galaxy super clusters. This is a slow ride, and no one is certain why we're being pulled there.

So, the answer to the question is that we're somewhere in the middle of the universe. The reason that we're in the middle is that everywhere we look, we see a crowded universe. If we were near the edge then that wouldn't be the case. The Earth is in the center of the universe! The ancients were right! Well, sort of. We're not quite in the actual middle because we don't know where the center of the universe is.
The only possible answer we can come up with is that we're roughly in the middle because the universe has no center and no edge. It's a homogeneous mass of galaxy clusters that are linked into supermassive clusters that if looked at from outside the universe would look like a webbed sponge with tangled arms of galaxy superclusters everywhere one looked. (my cover has a proposed picture of this)

The problem with trying to understand our location in the universe has stifled astronomers for centuries, but it's only in recent times that we've found just how big a problem it is. Keep in mind that it wasn't that long ago (the beginning of the 20th century) that astronomers thought that the Milky Way galaxy was the universe. Hubble proved that to be wrong. He revealed the existence of galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Now we know that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies, and probably many more, in the observable universe. This was proven when the Hubble space telescope was focused on one tiny section of space and a long exposure was made. It revealed thousands of galaxies at distances nearly to 13 billion light years. The crazy thing about this is that it's true no matter where you point the telescope. That means that galaxies in every direction surround us.

I think that this suggests that there are many intelligent alien species out there in the universe, maybe billions. Unfortunately, we can't get to them any time soon. The distances are just too great even if we had the science fiction schemes for faster than light travel.

This reminds me of a Star Trek episode called 'By Any Other Name'. It involved a group of aliens, who had assumed human form, taking over the Enterprise to go back to the Andromeda galaxy. Even with enhanced warp drive, it would have taken 300 years. Kirk reminded Rogan, the leader of the Kelvans, that they would be considered alien invaders when they got there. This pays tribute to the immense distances in space between galaxies, even though Andromeda is only 2.5 million light years away. Only!

Another problem with trying to understand our location in the universe is the fact that light has a finite speed. When we see the Andromeda galaxy, what we're seeing is what it was like 2.5 million years ago. When you look at a galaxy near the observable limit of the universe some 13 billion light years away, you're looking at something near the birth of galaxies after the Big Bang. The universe could be much larger than we realize. In fact it could be infinitely large.

Oh, and by the way, God could easily find us. God is both as large as the universe and as small as the tiniest subatomic particle. Nothing in creation escapes Him.

I think it would make more sense to try and determine where we are in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. At least we are able to see what's around us with more precision than what is in far flung galaxies. As it turns out the solar system is located on the edge of the Orion-Cygnus arm, which is between the two main arms: the Perseus arm and the Scutum-Centaurus arm. These are named for the constellations in which they lie. The Orion-Cygnus arm is 10,000 light years in length and 3,500 light years across.

The solar system is around 25,000 light years from the center of our galaxy, also known as Sagittarius A. We're also 25,000 light years away from the outer rim of the galaxy, which means that we're in the middle of the disc. At the distance we are from the center of the galaxy, it takes our solar system about 250 million years to complete on rotation. In other words, the dinosaurs were around the last time the solar system was where it is now.

So, you can see how our planet is only a tiny little speck in this huge universe, but at least we realize what we are and where we are. Well, for the time being, that is.

Thanks for reading.