When we look out at space, we see myriad structures, and as we try to understand them, we keep one general principle in mind: We can’t assume we are at a special time or in a special place; what we see out there should be what exists around here.

We know we live in a spiral galaxy, and as we look out, we see plenty of sibling systems like the spiral galaxy NGC 4571 in the Virgo cluster. That particular galaxy, with its mess of arms, is structured a bit different, but its glowing clouds of star formation hint at how we may look to folks looking at us from other galaxies.

As humans, it is easy to think that we must live in a massive galaxy — a giant among giants that is forever eating dwarf galaxies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

While the eating dwarfs part is true, our galaxy is only kind of middling in size and is dwarfed next to the massive elliptical galaxies that are in the hearts of galaxy clusters. As we look out at sister systems like NGC 4571, we see that smallness. That other spiral with its many arms is just one of the myriad galaxies in the Virgo cluster, which itself is a part of the greater Virgo Super Cluster which is made of clusters and groups like our own Local Group.

Hubble and ALMA are currently working together to observe stunning systems in detail so we can better understand star formation, galactic structures, and quite by accident, the smallness of our place in space.

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NASA image release