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Size and mass The Milky Way is the second-largest galaxy in the Local Group (after the Andromeda Galaxy), with its stellar disk approximately 170,000–200,000 light-years (52–61 kpc) in diameter and, on average, approximately 1,000 ly (0.3 kpc) thick.
How large is the Milky Way compared to other galaxies?
The Milky Way is an averagely large galaxy with a diameter of 100 000 light years and about 200 billion to 400 billion stars; but compared to larger galaxies like M100, M 87, NGC 4921 or Hercules A, the Milky Way looks like a dwarf galaxy.
Is the Milky Way considered a large galaxy?
They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Milky Way is a large barred spiral galaxy. All the stars we see in the night sky are in our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Is the Milky Way smaller than most galaxies?
The Milky Way is big, but some galaxies, like our Andromeda Galaxy neighbor, are much larger. The universe is all of the galaxies – billions of them! Our Sun is one star among the billions in the Milky Way Galaxy. Our Milky Way Galaxy is one among the billions of galaxies in our Universe.
What is the biggest known galaxy in the universe?
Located almost a billion light-years away, IC 1101 is the single largest galaxy that has ever been found in the observable universe. Just how large is it? At its largest point, this galaxy extends about 2 million light-years from its core, and it has a mass of about 100 trillion stars.
What galaxy do we live in?
We live in one of the arms of a large spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. The Sun and its planets (including Earth) lie in this quiet part of the galaxy, about half way out from the centre.
How old is our galaxy?
Most galaxies are between 10 billion and 13.6 billion years old. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old, so most galaxies formed when the universe was quite young! Astronomers believe that our own Milky Way galaxy is approximately 13.6 billion years old.
How many galaxies are in space?
While NASA previously determined that there were around two trillion galaxies in the universe, new findings say the number is more likely hundreds of billions. While NASA previously determined that there were around two trillion galaxies in the universe, new findings say the number is more likely hundreds of billions.
How fast is the Milky Way moving through space?
And how fast is the Milky Way Galaxy moving? The speed turns out to be an astounding 1.3 million miles per hour (2.1 million km/hr)! We are moving roughly in the direction on the sky that is defined by the constellations of Leo and Virgo.
Are we at the center of the universe?
There is no “preferred” direction in the universe, which indicates that there is no inherent center of the universe. The observable universe is the region of the universe we can observe, defined by how far light has traveled since the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
Is there anything bigger than the universe?
No, the universe contains all solar systems, and galaxies. Our Sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, and the universe is made up of all the galaxies – billions of them.
Where is Earth in our galaxy?
Earth is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way (called the Orion Arm) which lies about two-thirds of the way out from the center of the Galaxy. Here we are part of the Solar System – a group of eight planets, as well as numerous comets and asteroids and dwarf planets which orbit the Sun.
How old is the universe?
The universe is (nearly) 14 billion years old, astronomers confirm. With looming discrepancies about the true age of the universe, scientists have taken a fresh look at the observable (expanding) universe and have estimated that it is 13.77 billion years old (plus or minus 40 million years).
What is the most powerful thing in the universe?
Quasars inhabit the centers of active galaxies and are among the most luminous, powerful, and energetic objects known in the universe, emitting up to a thousand times the energy output of the Milky Way, which contains 200–400 billion stars.
What is the oldest thing in the universe?
Astronomers have found the farthest known source of radio emissions in the universe: a galaxy-swallowing supermassive black hole.
What is biggest thing in the universe?
The largest known ‘object’ in the Universe is the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall. This is a ‘galactic filament’, a vast cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity, and it’s estimated to be about 10 billion light-years across!.
Which is the most beautiful galaxy?
The Andromeda galaxy is 2.537 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. Its ‘closeness’ to our planet makes it the most distant object visible to the naked eye on Earth. It is the nearest giant galaxy and contains approximately the same number of stars as the Milky Way.
What is the next closest galaxy?
Distance Information The closest known galaxy to us is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, at 236,000,000,000,000,000 km (25,000 light years) from the Sun. The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is the next closest , at 662,000,000,000,000,000 km (70,000 light years) from the Sun.
Can you live on a galaxy?
The Milky Way Won’t Live Forever The two spiral galaxies are currently hurtling toward each other at 250,000 miles an hour. When they do smash into one another, it won’t be as cataclysmic as you might imagine—Earth will likely survive, and very few stars will actually be destroyed.
How old is space?
Scientists’ best estimate is that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
