Milky Way galaxy, artwork. This barred spiral galaxy is around 100,000 light years in diameter, containing about 200 billion stars. It consists of thr

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Milky Way galaxy, artwork. This barred spiral galaxy is around 100,000 light years in diameter, containing about 200 billion stars. It consists of three sections: a central core of old stars, a galactic disk of spiral arms with young stars, and a spherical region with few stars that surrounds all the galaxy, known as the galactic halo. The Sun is located in the galactic disk at a point about 27,000 light years from the galactic centre. The stars in the Milky Way rotate at different speeds in different parts of the disk. This suggests that much of the galactic mass is dark matter in the outer regions of the galaxy. For this artwork with labels, see C021/6360.

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Size: 5333px × 3295px
Photo credit: © CARLOS CLARIVAN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 3kpc, arm, arms, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, bar, barred, bulge, centaurus, central, clusters, disc, disk, dust, galactic, galaxy, globular, halo, illustration, lanes, milky, norma, nucleus, orbiting, orion, outer, perseus, sagittarius, space, spiral, star, stars, universe