Tuhia he tomokanga mo tenei pene - I te taha o tenei huarahi hihiri ki te ao nui, ko tetahi tautohetohe roa mo te hanganga o te ao nui kei te haere mai ki te tihi. Ko te tohunga whetu o Mount Wilson a Harlow Shapley i tautoko i te tauira o te ao i hangaia e te punaha whetu o te Milky Way anake; i te mea i tohe a Heber D. Curtis mo te whakaaro ko nga nebulae porohita he punaha whetu i roto i a raatau ano hei ao moutere. I eke tēnei rerekētanga whakaaro ki te tino taumata i te whakahaere o te Kōrerorero Nui
i te 26 o Paenga-whāwhā 1920 i te hui o te U.S. National Academy of Sciences i Washington, DC. I whakatauhia te tautohetohe i te wa i kitea ai e Edwin Hubble nga Cepheid Variables i te Andromeda Galaxy i te 1923 me te 1924. I whakatūria e rātau he pūngāwerewere i tua atu i te pito o te Milky Way.