Earth's Address Just Got Longer

By Paul Rauber

September 3, 2014

galaxy

Nature mystic John Muir, the Sierra Club's founder, was always one to look at the big picture. Most famously, in his very first field journal, he listed his home address thusly: "Earth, planet, Universe." Today he might want to revise that address to "Earth, Milky Way, Laniakea." A report in the Journal Nature shows that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy--more precisely, that the cluster of galaxies in which the Milky Way resides is 100 times larger than previously believed. You could read the scholarly paper--or you could just watch this excellent short video. Then you'd better get busy and update all your business cards.