So called ‘Island Universes’ populate the vastness of space, each comprising an immense collection of stars orbiting a central nucleus and appearing as a minor universe itself. Scientists estimate that at least 200 to 400 billion such galaxies exist. One of these is the Milky Way. Within the Milky Way, there are more than 100 billion stars! A mere fraction of this galaxy is our solar system.
The diameter of our galaxy is so enormous that it would take 100,000 years to travel through it at the speed of light (299,793 kilometres per second)! Our Milky Way has a diameter of about 1 quintillion kilometres (1,000,000,000,000,000,000). The average distance between stars within the galaxy is estimated to be roughly 6 light-years, around 60 trillion kilometres.
The impressive sizes and distances of the Milky Way inspired the design and manufacture of a unique ring. The nucleus of the galaxy is an amazing orange sapphire. Each sapphire-studded arm of the galaxy is a separate element symbolising space. Finding such a set of stones to form a rainbow took a great deal of time and was extremely expensive. The ring consists of falling comets adorned with diamonds. The whole piece was made in cosmic white gold.
