Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are– Felix Baumgartner
Well, isn’t the answer obvious? It’s the place where you are reading this!
Just kidding!
You are a small dot located somewhere in the universe. But you are not in the center of it. We will see the reason behind it later. There’s so much in the universe to be mesmerized at, but there are limitations. The only things that are visible in daytime are our closest star, the Sun, which gives us light energy for life and power. And the iconic blue sky. Now you may be wondering, why don’t we see the other stars but rather a blue shade? The sun emits its energy in the form of visible light in the color of white. When that light reaches our planet, the gaseous molecules in the atmosphere scatters the light. As blue has a higher wavelength compared to the other colors in the visible spectrum, it is scattered the most, hence giving us the blue sky we see.
However, if we were to look at the sky at night (No sunlight as we are facing away from it), and assuming you are looking at it from a place free from artificial light sources, the cosmic sky will start to be visible to you. You can see the stars and the moon.
Now, to fully experience outer space, let us ascend from the grounds into the sky, leaving the gravitational pull of the Earth and the final layers of the atmosphere. Welcome to the cosmos!
1. The Solar System
You are now in a star system, governed by the gravitational pull of a massive star in the center with eight planets orbiting it. Let’s start our journey at the center, the Sun. Contributing to 99.86% of the mass of this star system, this fireball of light is the heaviest and the largest celestial body of this system. Nuclear fusion (The process of combining two atoms of a certain element to form a new one), gives off energy in the form of small packets of energy called photons. Initially, those photons carry energies of gamma rays (Very high energy levels that are fatal to humans!!!) but as it leaves the sun, some of its energy is lost to the star. The photon then carries energy in visible light and ultraviolet light and heat. This is crucial as all forms of life depend on sunlight for survival on Earth. In addition, the sun is massive. A million Earths could fit inside it! Anything that has mass exerts a force called gravity (More on gravity, gamma rays and other forms of electromagnetic radiation in the future). All the planets are attracted by the sun, hence they orbit around it. The closest planet orbits the fastest while the farthest one orbits the slowest (This is Kepler’s 3rd Law of Planetary Motion in a nutshell).
Now, let’s go to the first four planets of the solar system. First, we have mercury. The smallest planet. Its atmosphere is very thin, so it doesn’t trap a lot of heat from the Sun. It experiences the largest temperature variation on two sides (one with light and one in darkness)
Next, we have Venus. Otherwise known as the demonic twin of Earth. The thick atmosphere traps tons of heat! Making it the hottest planet in the entire solar system! Also, it rains acid most of the time due to the gases present like sulfur dioxide! (It also causes acid rain on Earth)
Thirdly, we have our beautiful home. The Earth. It’s in a suitable area called the Goldilocks Zone (Goldilocks doesn’t like the porridge too hot or too cold.). Water doesn’t vaporize nor freeze, making it a habitable place for life to emerge. It’s also the only known planet in the solar system, or even in the entire universe, to hold life.
The Earth has one natural satellite orbiting it called the Moon. Its gravity influences the tides. We can see it in the night sky because the Sun’s light is reflected from it towards us. Some astronomers believe that the Moon was formed when an unknown celestial object crashed on the infant Earth. The debris left from the impact formed the Moon. 
And now we reach Mars. The notable red color is caused by the iron oxides on the Martian terrain. Recently, there have been traces of water on this planet. Do you think that life could prevail there? Mars has two moons (smaller and more irregular-shaped than ours) namely Phobos and Deimos.
We have been through the 4 terrestrial planets. They consist of rocky surfaces.
After mars, we reach the asteroid belt. Large chunks of rocks orbit the Sun. Occasionally, some of them may be knocked off and pulled in by the Sun’s immense gravity. And in a worst case scenario, we have meteor impacts!
Next, on the list of planets, we have the 4 Jovian planets. They are the gas giants of the solar system. Their surfaces consist of gases with a rocky interior.
Jupiter is the largest of the Jovian planets and the largest one in the solar system. A distinctive feature is the 300-year-old Great Red Spot storm. It is more powerful and more destructive than the ones we have on Earth. And there are 63 moons! The gaseous surface includes mainly helium and hydrogen. Walking on Jupiter would feel like crawling, owing to its massive gravitational force.
Saturn may be the most popular planet with its characteristic rings of ice and crystals. Like Jupiter, Saturn has a lot of moons (62). Its surface also mainly consists of helium and hydrogen. 
Uranus is the oddball of the Jovian planets. Its axis of rotation is tilted, making it a sideways planet. The atmosphere mainly contains ammonia and methane.
Neptune is the final planet of the solar system. It has large wind speeds at 220 km/h. Like Jupiter, Neptune had a storm called the Great Dark Spot. But it has sadly disappeared. 
How about Pluto? It used to be a planet, but it was later taken due to its small size and its irregular orbit. Sad fact: Pluto couldn’t complete its orbit before it was deemed not a planet.
After Neptune, we reach another asteroid belt called the Kuiper Belt.
There’s a hypothetical cloud of ice where comets are believed to come from. It’s called the Oort Cloud (Funny name, isn’t it?)
This concludes our journey of the Solar System… But there’s still more to see…
2. The Milky Way Galaxy
That band of light in the night sky is a cross-sectional view of the Milky Way Galaxy. The small dots are the countless stars that fill it. Our universe is filled with countless galaxies with countless stars.
This is what our galaxy looks like. Notice the spiral arms. They are dense regions of matter (stars, potential planets). There is a black hole with a gargantuan gravitational pull (way stronger than the sun), which causes the shape of this galaxy to form. This type of galaxy is called a spiral galaxy.
This is another type of galaxy. An elliptical galaxy.
This type is special. They’re called irregular galaxies. They are formed when two galaxies collide.
Our nearest galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is 2.5 million light years away from us (A light year is a measure of distance. It shows how far light travels in a year)
When we leave the Milky Way, we enter interstellar space. The Voyager 1 space probe is currently there. As we get further away, we see more galaxies. Just imagine… going so far… very far… so far…
You are far from Earth now… And all you can see are colorful stars. Where is the center? Or should I say, is there even one?
3. Deep Space
The Hubble Space Telescope gave us a whole new view of deep space. This is one of the images from it. Now that we are at an isolated distance from home, we can continue with our question: Is there a center to our universe?
Let’s say that you are at one of the stars here. You look around you and see everything. Now you can say that the place where you’re at is the center of the universe. But someone else at another star will argue that their spot is the center of the universe. And someone outside of this image will argue the same thing. No matter where you are, you will always see the universe. So let’s dumb this down. There is no center.
It’s intriguing and at the same time dizzying to contemplate such positioning.
Have you ever heard of how you can travel to the past by looking at the night sky? The speed of light is undoubtedly rapid. But it can take years for light from a distant star to reach us. So by looking at the stars at the night sky, you really are looking at how they used to be. The deeper they are from Earth, the longer it takes for their light to go to us.
We have explored our star system, our galaxy and now deep space. Can we go any further?
4. The limits of our observable universe
Unfortunately, our telescopes have a limit. We can’t see any further from this region.
In 2009, the Planck Satellite was launched and it took a picture of the infant universe. This is the cosmic microwave background. It uses microwaves (Not the one you use for heating food) to detect low-energy light. The light is from the moment where matter first came to existence. The age of the universe is 13.8 billion years. This is how far we can go for now. No telescope has ever penetrated its vision beyond it. This marks the end of our observable universe. But this doesn’t mean the end of the universe as a whole. Maybe one day, we will go beyond this barrier and observe what else is out there.
Epilogue
We have been through the planets of our solar system, the many stars in the Milky Way, the myriad of galaxies in the cosmos and the image of the infant universe. You’ve traveled so far. Be happy about it. And now, it’s time to go back home.
Where are you?
You are a small dot in the sea of space.
You are in the universe, and the universe is in you.
Thank you for reading.
The Mysterious Universe 