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You are here: Home / Universe / How Big is the Milky Way?

How Big is the Milky Way?

July 4, 2020 by Karen Hill

The Milky Way is a huge group of many billions of stars called a galaxy. There are more than a billion other galaxies just like the Milky Way in the universe.

The Sun, Moon, Earth, and all the planets form only a small part of our Milky Way. The rest is made up of clouds of dust and gas, and over 200,000,000 stars. Some of these stars are large and some very small.

To get an idea of just how vast the Milky Way is, think in terms of how fast Light travels. For light to travel from the sun to the earth, it takes 8 minutes. But for light to travel from one end of the Milky Way to the other, it takes 100,000 years.

The Milky Way is shaped like a pancake, with stars fanning out from the center in a spiral shape.

Related Facts

  • How Old Is the Milky Way Galaxy, How Big Is the Milky Way, and How Many Stars Does the Milky Way Contain?
  • Which Way Is the Milky Way Galaxy Moving and How Long Does It Take For the Milky Way To Rotate?
  • What Does the Milky Way Look Like and Where Is Our Solar System Located In the Milky Way Galaxy?
  • What Is the Center Of the Milky Way Made Of and How Do We Know That It Is a Supermassive Black Hole?
  • Who Discovered other Galaxies in the Universe and that the Sun is part of the Milky Way Galaxy?
  • When Will the Universe End, What Is the Big Crunch Theory, and Will the Big Crunch Be the End of the Universe?

Filed Under: Universe

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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