The Milky Way

If you’ve ever looked up at the night sky to see a clouded 
stripe run from one end of your observable horizon to the other, you are looking into the Milky Way galaxy. This spiral formation is your galactic home.

Milky Way Galaxy spiral arms and SMBH

Leading theories about the center of our average galaxy suggest that there exists a supermassive black-hole now named Sagittarius A shaped like a football. From the center we have drawn proof of four separate arms branching outward. The arms of the Milky Way consist of both population one and population two stars. Population one stars are blue in color because they are a younger, cooler formation. These stars are found along the inside of each arm and are a part of open cluster constructions. Population two stars are older and more red shifted in color. These round stars are found in globular clusters and are too hot to form new stars (void of star-forming material).

The Milky Way consists of approximately 200-400 billion stars across a one hundred thousand light-year diameter and six thousand light-year width. Our solar system is believed to be towards the end of a spiral arm that leaves us about 28 thousand light-years away from the center.

You are here Milky Way Galaxy