The Milky Way galaxy is part of the Local Group, in the Local Sheet, in the Virgo Supercluster, in the Laniakea Supercluster, in the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex.

Milky Way section view

Showing our Sun's location in the Orion (Local) Arm and some of the more notable nebulae in the Sagittarius Arm and Perseus Arm. See detailed Orion Arm views showing Loop Bubbles, Local Bubble, Local Fluff, and more.

Milky Way section view

Milky Way Facts

1. Type
2. barred spiral

1. Age
2. 13.6 billion years

1. Mass
2. 1-1.5 trillion suns

1. Number of stars
2. 250-400 billion

1. Diameter
2. 170-200,000 light years

1. Thickness (arms)
2. 2,000 light years

1. Bar rotation period
2. 100-120 million years

1. Spiral rotation period
2. 200-360 million years

1. Escape velocity
2. 500 km/s

1. Supermassive black hole
2. Sagittarius A*

Milky Way structure

Galactic Center

Sagittarius A* Cluster
Sagittarius A* (supermassive black hole)

Spiral arms

Near 3kpc Arm
Far 3kpc Arm
Scutum-Centarus Arm
Sagittarius Arm
Orion (Local) Arm
Perseus Arm
Norma Outer Arm

Halos

Fermi Bubbles
Stellar halo
Gaseous halo
Dark matter halo

Stellar streams

Monoceros Ring
Virgo Stream
Sagittarius Stream
Magellanic Stream

Collision objects

Gaia Sausage
Smith's Cloud

Satellite galaxies

Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, and 50 other dwarf satellite galaxies.