THE MILKY WAY GALAXY
THE MILKY WAY GALAXY
The Galaxy that we call home, is the Milky Way Galaxy. Our galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy, and is believed to contain a super-massive black hole at its centre. Earth, along with the Sun and the rest of the Solar System, are situated in the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy as viewed from Earth.
Image credit: ESO.
Milky Way Facts
Distance between the Sun and Galaxy centre: 250,000,000,000,000,000 kilometres (250 quadrillion kilometres) or 155,000,000,000,000,000 miles (155 quadrillion miles)
Number of stars: Between 100,000,000,000 and 400,000,000,000 (100 billion and 400 billion)
Diameter: 946,000,000,000,000,000 kilometres (946 quadrillion kilometres), or 588,000,000,000,000,000 miles (588 quadrillion miles)