ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cosmic Ocean

Imagine you're at the beach, but instead of sand and water, you see darkness with tiny specks of light everywhere. These specks of light are stars and they are very very far away. In fact, so far away that many of them don't even exist anymore, but their light is still traveling to us.

Now imagine that the beach you're on is not just a small patch of sand, but it stretches out infinitely in all directions. This is what space is like, and we call it the cosmic ocean because it's like an ocean that goes on forever with lots of stars that are like shining fish in the sea.

Just like how you can't drink the ocean water, we can't go swimming in the cosmic ocean. It's not made of water or air, but instead it's full of things like gas, dust, and particles that can be dangerous to humans without special protection.

Scientists study this cosmic ocean to learn more about the stars and galaxies that exist in it. They use special telescopes and equipment to observe and make sense of the things they find. It's a big place and we still have a lot to learn about it, but it's an exciting adventure to explore and discover new things in our cosmic ocean.