Most of us know that we live in a galaxy known as the Milky Way. However, not many of us really know very much about our own galaxy. Here are 6 interesting and random facts about the Milky Way Galaxy that will help expand your knowledge about it.

• Any stars that you can see in the night sky without the aid of a telescope are part of the Milky Way.

 

• It is estimated that the Milky Way contains between 200 and 400 billion stars.

 

• Our solar system makes up an extremely tiny part of the Milky Way – if you imagine our solar system were the size of a US quarter, the entire Milky Way would be almost half the size of the United States!

 

• Edwin Hubble is credited as conclusively defining the shape and scope of our galaxy through the use of telescopes.

 

• The size of the Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter.

 

• The mass of our galaxy is estimated at 5.8 × 10¹¹ solar masses. A solar mass is a unit of mass equivalent to the mass of our Sun.

 

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