The Milky Way galaxy is the galaxy in which our solar system is located. It is also one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe and it is classified as a spiral galaxy because it is surrounded by a flat disk marked by six spiral arms.
The disk of the Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter (one light year is about 9.4605284 × 1015 meters), but only about 1000 light years thick. It contains about 200 billion stars. Our sun is situated in one of the smaller arms, that connect substantial next inner arm and the next outer arm. Sun’s distance to galactic center is 25,000 light years.
The oldest known star in the Milky Way Galaxy is 13.2 billion years old.
All the stars that our eye can see at night are part of the Milky Way galaxy. The center of the Galaxy is in the direction of the Sagittarius that is where the Milky Way looks brightest.
The name of the Milky Way galaxy is a translation of the Latin Via Lactea.