Milky Way

Our Galaxy is a collection of over 100 Billion stars called the milky way galaxy, a term derived from the greek word for Milk. Our Solar System is on one of the spiral arms of this collection of stars, some of the closest stars- AlphaCentauri? ProximaCentauri? and EpsilonErindi? are many light years away. Interestingly our galaxy on a collision course with Andromeda our closest neighboring galaxy. Andromeda is a member of the local super-cluster of galaxy's and is also cannibalizing the Saggitarius Dwarf Galaxy. Our SolarSystem? is on one of the spiral arms. Nearest stars AlphaCentauri? /ProximaCentauri?, EpsilonErindi?....

[delete OffTopic] - what could be more pertinent than where your place is in the Universe? TheBaddestEnding, StarWars, HitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy are ok but real information about the Galaxy is irrelevant? Cultivate BeginnersMind and give it a chance you might learn something new.

For all you know someone reading this may be working on software for the JWST (http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/FastFacts.htm) and find it helpful as it grows.

Average number of Neurons in the human brain is approx the number of stars in the Galaxy: 100 billion

Life elsewhere in the MilkyWay, if it exists, is likely not distributed completely randomly - there is a habitable zone that has been expanding since the formation of the galaxy http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/GHZ/ It started forming 8 billion years ago

AmericanBillion LifeOnOtherPlanets MilkyWay MrPhil WarpDrive