Milky-way Galaxy

Milkyway Galaxy

The Milky Way Galaxy is our home galaxy in the universe. It is a spiral galaxy with a bulged center and arms that start in the center and form a flat pinwheel shape.

Characteristics of Milkyway Galaxy:

Type: Barred Spiral

Diameter: 100,000-180,000 light years

Distance to galactic center: 26000 light years

Mass: 800-1800 Mass with respect to the sun

Age: 13.6 Billion Light Years

Stars:100-400 Billion

Facts about Milkyway Galaxy:

• Milky Way began as a series of dense regions in the universe not long after the Big Bang.
  
  
• Milky Way has grown by merging with other galaxies through time. It is currently acquiring stars from a very small galaxy called the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal, as well as gobbling up material from the Magellanic Clouds.

• The Milky Way moves through space at a velocity of about 552 kilometers per second.

• The Milky Way’s central core contains a supermassive black hole. It contains the mass of about 4.3 million Suns.

• The stars, gas, and dust of the Milky Way all orbit the center at a rate of about 220 kilometers per second.

• Our galaxy will collide with Andromeda Galaxy in about 5 billion years. Some astronomers refer to our two galaxies as a binary system of giant spirals.