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Milky Way click to hear : Milky Way

Spiral galaxy composed of 200 to 300 billion stars, including the Sun; thought to be 10 billion years old.
Milky Way image
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Milky Way (seen from above) nucleus spiral arm Milky Way (side view) halo disk bulge globular cluster

Milky Way (seen from above) click to hear : Milky Way (seen from above)

From above, the Milky Way appears as a spiral that rotates on itself around a nucleus.

nucleus click to hear : nucleus

Central region of the bulge; the densest and most luminous region.

spiral arm click to hear : spiral arm

Curved grouping of stars influenced by the rotation of the galaxy around its nucleus.

Milky Way (side view) click to hear : Milky Way (side view)

From the side, the Milky Way appears as a disk because its spiral arms are seen from the same angle.

halo click to hear : halo

Region surrounding the galaxy, inhabited by isolated stars or groupings called globular clusters; the halo has a radius of about 50,000 light-years.

disk click to hear : disk

The main part of the galaxy, made up of a bulge and attaching arms.

bulge click to hear : bulge

The central bulge of the Milky Way’s disk; the densest region of the Milky Way, with a depth of 15,000 light-years.

globular cluster click to hear : globular cluster

Cluster made up of hundreds of thousands of old stars.