milky way solar system

Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy''s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.

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What is the Milky Way? It''s our home galaxy

Our solar system lies about 2/3 of the way out from the galactic center. We''re 26,000 light-years from the center, or 153,000 trillion miles (246,000 trillion km).

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Solar System: Facts

Our solar system is made up of a star, eight planets, and countless smaller bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets. Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 515,000 mph (828,000 kph). We''re in one of the galaxy''s four spiral arms.

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Milky Way Galaxy | Size, Definition, & Facts | Britannica

4 · Milky Way Galaxy (sometimes simply called the Galaxy), large spiral system of about several hundred billion stars, one of which is the Sun. It takes its name from the Milky Way, the irregular luminous band of stars and gas clouds that stretches across the sky as seen from Earth.

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The Milky Way Galaxy

Our best estimates tell us that the Milky Way is made up of approximately 100 billion stars. These stars form a large disk whose diameter is about 100,000 light years. Our Solar System is about 25,000 light years away from the center of our galaxy – we live in the suburbs of our galaxy.

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Milky Way galaxy: Facts about our cosmic neighborhood | Space

Just as Earth orbits the sun, the solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way. Despite hurtling through space at speeds of around 515,000mph (828,000kmph) our solar system takes...

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The Milky Way Galaxy

Using infrared images from NASA''s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way''s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms.

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The Milky Way: Understanding Our Place in the Galaxy

It is a vast galaxy, a large system that includes stars, gas (predominantly hydrogen), dust and dark matter, all bound together by gravity. As we navigate through the cosmos, an intriguing enigma emerges: What is the Milky Way truly like? What is it composed of, and what is its shape?

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Milky Way and Our Location

The Milky Way Galaxy is organized into spiral arms of giant stars that illuminate interstellar gas and dust. The Sun is in a finger called the Orion Spur. Overlaid is a graphic of galactic longitude in relation to our Sun. Credit: NASA/Adler/U. Chicago/Wesleyan/JPL-Caltech. Graphic view of our Milky Way Galaxy.

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Milky Way

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is typical: it has hundreds of billions of stars, enough gas and dust to make billions more stars, and at least ten times as much dark matter as all the stars and gas put together. And it''s all held together by gravity.

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milky way solar system

Milky Way

What is the Milky Way? It''s our home galaxy

Solar System: Facts

Milky Way Galaxy | Size, Definition, & Facts | Britannica

The Milky Way Galaxy

Milky Way galaxy: Facts about our cosmic neighborhood | Space

The Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way: Understanding Our Place in the Galaxy

Milky Way and Our Location

Milky Way

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