the Milky Way

The Milky Way Story By Ethan

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The descriptive "milky" is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars ... Wikipedia

Oldest known star: ≥13.7 Gyr

Sun's Galactic rotation period: 240 Myr

Diameter: 100–180 kly (31–55 kpc)

Stars: 250 billion ± 150 billion

Sun's distance to Galactic Center: 26.4 ± 1.0 kly (8.09 ± 0.31 kpc)

Spiral pattern rotation period: 220–360 Myr