Separator Block

The Milky Way is a massive barred spiral galaxy, approximately 100,000 to 180,000 light-years in diameter, containing 100–400 billion stars, including our Sun. As part of the Local Group, this cosmic structure features a central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, surrounded by a bulging core and rotating spiral arms. The Solar System resides in the Orion Arm, about 27,000 light-years from the center, orbiting the galaxy every 240 million years.