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The Cosmos

Scientists Just Released The Most Detailed Map Yet of Our Place in the Universe

We're pretty tiny...

Scientists have created the most detailed map ever of our place in the universe – and if you watch the video while you’re incredibly high, you’ll probably have a great time.

The team were led by R. Brent Tully at the University of Hawaii, which maybe explains the laid-back vibes going on in the watch.

The project shows how we are part of a massive “supercluster” of galaxies called Laniakea. Yup, that’s right. SUPERCLUSTER. This is no measly half-decent or really-quite-impressive cluster. It’s super.

Laniakea looks somewhat like a tree branch when you scale it out, with each galaxy containing trillions of stars.

To give you an idea of the scale of it all, Laniakea contains more than 100,000 galaxies and spans 500 million light years.

Before Laniakea, scientists thought that our Milky Way was part of the Virgo Supercluster, but now we’re part of this even bigger Supercluster. So maybe it should have been called the Super Supercluster? Who knows. It’s all a bit confusing.

What it does remind you, though, is how small Earth and all its inhabitants really are. And it puts into perspective how ridiculous it is that it took you five hours to get out of bed on Sunday. I mean come on. It was 2pm. Have some self-respect

Anyway, give the video below a watch. It’ll either clear things up or make you even more confused. We’re going for a lie down.

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