Milky Way

The graphic below uses a photo of NGC2997, to simulate our own Milky Way.
The size of the Milky Way shown is superimposed above it, along
w/ the approximate position of our Sun and solar system, which are
located about 2/3rds of the way out from the centre of the Milky Way.
As the galaxy rotates, our Sun orbits the centre every 200 million years.



 


 

The graphic above does not include the halo and globular clusters.
The Halo is a spherical region, centered on Milky Way's nucleus,
w/ a radius of about 50,000 light years.
It contains very old stars, produced when the Milky Way was still forming.
Most of these stars are in clumped together into globular clusters.

Intergalactic Hydrogen Clouds Discovered
10/22/02

Galactic Center Photos

Space Waste

Index