Understanding What the Milky Way Is
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Sun, Earth, and billions of other stars. It is a massive collection of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity.
The Shape of the Milky Way
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with long arms that curve outward from the center. Our solar system sits in one of these arms, far from the crowded middle.
What’s at the Center
At its core, the Milky Way has a dense region filled with stars and a supermassive black hole. This black hole helps influence the motion of stars near the center.
How Big the Milky Way Is
The galaxy is enormous, stretching about 100,000 light-years across. It contains hundreds of billions of stars, making it one of countless galaxies in the universe.
The Simple Takeaway
The Milky Way is our home galaxy—a huge spiral of stars, planets, and cosmic dust. It holds everything in our solar system and is just one of many galaxies in the universe.