The Milky Way is a typical galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars, vast amounts of gas and dust, over ten times more dark matter, all bound by gravity
Image Credit: NASA
Spitzer's infrared cameras cut through dust to reveal stars in the Milky Way's crowded center
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Susan Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) et al
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, and our solar system orbits it every 240 million years from halfway out on a spiral arm
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Milky Way is faint and can be obscured by light pollution or moonlight; it’s only visible when the sky is darker
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Milky Way will collide with Andromeda in 4 billion years, reshaping both galaxies