6 Random Facts about the Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way Galaxy

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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93 comments on “6 Random Facts about the Milky Way Galaxy”

  1. This is totally awesome! This is helping my report for school!
    XXXTHANKYOU!XXX 🙂 🙂 🙂

  2. Love the Milky Way…….as a Galaxy, it is so small…….You should see the 100’s of Millions of other galaxies…….and to think some idiots think we are the only lifeforms!!!!

  3. You are a very well educated writer and you gave me all the information i need so thank you.

  4. wow, i learned a lot from this info. really! i did not know about that many stars in a galaxy or anything else in the outer space until later in my adult years. taking science classes has taught me plenty about where i live.

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