Our Location in the Milky Way, page 1
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reply posted on 26-7-2004 @ 03:33 AM by Genya
Hi SpockO_0

A search of the internet would answer your question: entering "Milky Way Galaxy" provided
this link, although there were many more.

To quote from this work:

"Our solar system is thus situated within the outer regions of this galaxy, well within the disk and only about 20 light years above the equatorial symmetry plane but about 28,000 light years from the Galactic Center. Therefore, the Milky Way shows up as luminous band spanning all around the sky along this symmetry plane, which is also called the "Galactic Equator". Its center lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, but very close to the border of both neighbor constellations Scorpius and Ophiuchus. The distance of 28,000 light years has recently (1997) been confirmed by the data of ESA's astrometric satellite Hipparcos. Other investigations published consequently have disputed this value and propose a smaller value of some 25,000 light years, based on stellar dynamics; a recent investigation (McNamara et.al 2000, based on RR Lyrae variables) yields roughly 26,000 light years. These data, if of significance, wouldn't immediately effect values for distances of particular objects in the Milky Way or beyond.

The solar system is situated within a smaller spiral arm, called the Local or Orion Arm, which is merely connection between the inner and outer next more massive arms, the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm; see our Milky Way Spiral Structure page."

I hope that helps?


reply posted on 2-8-2004 @ 03:02 PM by kinglizard



Age: About 4.5 Billion Years Old

Location: In the Solar System, on the outer edge of the Milky Way, about 28,000 light years from the galactic center (Source: European Space Agency). It takes the solar system 225 million years to make one full trip around the Milky Way.

Closest Major Galaxy: Andromeda, about 2.3 million light years away.

Age of the Milky Way: 16 billion years.

Home System: Solar System (One Sun)


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