EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -If you look in any astronomy textbook, you’ll find somewhere a diagram of the Milky Way Galaxy with dimensions: the disk of our galaxy is about the disk is about 40, 000 parsecs = 40 kilo-parsecs = 40 kpc across, and the Sun is about 8, 000 parcsec = 8 kpc from the center.

Detailed explanation-2: -Our galaxy probably contains 100 to 400 billion stars, and is about 100, 000 light-years across. That sounds huge, and it is, at least until we start comparing it to other galaxies. Our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, for example, is some 220, 000 light-years wide.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Milky Way is a huge collection of stars, dust and gas. It’s called a spiral galaxy because if you could view it from the top or bottom, it would look like a spinning pinwheel. The Sun is located on one of the spiral arms, about 25, 000 light-years away from the center of the galaxy.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Galactic Center is approximately 8 kiloparsecs (26, 000 ly) away from Earth in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, where the Milky Way appears brightest, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) or the star Shaula, south to the Pipe Nebula.