About Milkyway
1. The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System.
2. It's a barred spiral galaxy, characterized by a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars.
3. From Earth, it appears as a hazy band of light across the night sky, formed by the countless stars too distant to be resolved individually.
4. Our Sun is located in one of its spiral arms, specifically the Orion Arm, about two-thirds of the way out from the galactic center.
5. It's estimated to contain between 100 and 400 billion stars, along with an abundance of gas and dust.
6. The Milky Way has a supermassive black hole at its center, known as Sagittarius A*.
7. It is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which also includes the Andromeda Galaxy.
8. The Milky Way is constantly rotating, with our Sun completing an orbit around the galactic center approximately every 240 million years.
9. It's on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, with the merger expected in about 4.5 billion years.
10. The name "Milky Way" comes from its appearance, resembling a spilled trail of milk across the sky.
Credit to Open AI