Home Posted on Mar.

28 2006

Milky Way is composed of 200-400 billion stars, and it is old about 13.6 billion years.

Member of the Local Group (Andromeda group) of 35 galaxies that belongs to the Virgo
Supercluster.

- diameter 80.000-100.000 ly
- thickness ~ 3.000 ly
- circumference 250.000-300.000 ly

Satellites:

- Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy

- Carina Dwarf

- Draco Dwarf

- Fornax Dwarf

- Large Magellanic Cloud

- Leo I

- Leo II

- Sag DEG

- Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy

- Sextans Dwarf

- Small Magellanic Cloud

- Tucana Dwarf

- Ursa Minor Dwarf

Solar System is positioned in Orion Arm at distance of about 7.94 kpc from Galactic Center
in so called "galactic habitable zone". We are orbiting around center at 217 km/s. One
galactic year lasts 225-250 million years. Milky Way is moving through space at 600 km/s
(51.84 million km per day) in the direction of the constellation Hydra, relative to other
observed galaxies.

Dust in the Center of the Milky Way. This infrared image was made by Spitzer Space Telescope.
Image of the galactic center made by Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Spaceweather Posted on Mar. 27 2006

Magnetic shield is protecting us from radiation, but Sun is growing and warming up. In the future
temperature on Earth will be too high for living. Is the Red Planet our next home?

Far Side of the Moon Posted on Mar. 26 2006

Blue shift? Posted on Mar. 21 2006

Our neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31 or NGC 224). This is Spitzer Space Telescope infrared image.
Distance from Milky Way ~ 2.52 million ly. It is approaching us at about 300 kilometres per second.