Galaxies
Milky Way
Our home galaxy
About Milky Way
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy containing 100-400 billion stars. Our Solar System is located in one of its spiral arms, about 26,000 light-years from the center.
Scientific Facts
The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years in diameter. It rotates at 270 km/s. At its center is a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*.
Interesting Facts
It takes the Sun 225-250 million years to orbit the Milky Way. The galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy in about 4.5 billion years.
Fun Facts
The Milky Way is moving through space at 600 km/s. You can see it as a faint band of light in the night sky.
Discovery
Known since ancient times; its true nature discovered by Galileo in 1610.