The Milky Way

The Milky Way is a giant group of stars, dust, and gas in space. It is called a galaxy. Our sun is just one of the many stars inside it. Earth travels around the sun, so we live in the Milky Way too. On a dark night, you can see it as a bright stripe across the sky.

What Does It Look Like?

The Milky Way has a shape like a flat spinning disk. It has long curved arms made of stars. From the side, it looks like a thin pancake with a bump in the middle. We live on one of the arms, far from the center.

An artist's view of our Milky Way galaxy with its bright swirling arms.
An artist's view of our Milky Way galaxy with its bright swirling arms. (European Space Agency / Wikimedia Commons)

How Big Is It?

The Milky Way is very, very big. It holds more than 100 billion stars. Light from one side takes about 100,000 years to reach the other side. Our sun takes about 225 million years to go around the center just one time.

Fun Facts

  • The Milky Way got its name because it looks like spilled milk in the sky.
  • There is a giant black hole at the center of our galaxy.
  • The Milky Way is slowly moving toward another galaxy called Andromeda.

Did You Know?

Everything you can see in the night sky with just your eyes is part of the Milky Way, except for a few faraway galaxies.