Our Well-known Galaxy

The Milky Way is one of the largest and most massive galaxies, containing
between 200 and 400 billion stars similar to the Sun. Some are younger and are located
in the bluish spiral arms where a lot of gas has accumulated, the others are much older
than the Sun and are concentrated in the core which has a yellow-orange color. These
stars are so close to each other in the heart of the Milky Way that it is impossible to
count them!

The Milky Way is very large and it is quite difficult to imagine its dimensions: it is about
120,000 light-years in diameter. The Sun is about 25,000 light-years from the center in
an area about 700 light-years thick. The Milky Way turns slightly on itself but it is so big
that the Sun and the planets take about 250 million years to go around.

All the stars that you see in the sky belong to the Milky Way. They are located near the
Sun, at most a few thousand light-years away. The nearest star is Proxima Centauri. It
is 4.3 light years away.