Scientists believe the Milky Way contains up to 400 billion stars and at least as many planets. The largest galaxy known, IC 1101, has more than 100 trillion stars. Step outside on a clear night and ...

11 fascinating facts about our Milky Way galaxy. Countdowns. By Adam Mann published 16 October 2018 When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Below are are of the most important facts that you need to know in order to understand our galaxy: The Milky Way is estimated to have somewhere between 200-400 billion stars.

Thanks to the ESA Gaia mission, researchers can better understand how the Milky Way galaxy may have formed. For instance: In 2018, using Gaia data, researchers from the University of Groningen in the ...

In about four billion years, the Milky Way will collide with its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. The two spiral galaxies are currently hurtling toward each other at 250,000 miles an hour.

When the Milky Way and Andromeda merge in about 4.5 billion years, they will probably form a huge elliptical galaxy. Chances are that our solar system will be relatively unaffected.

So here are a few of the best photos from 2020’s “Milky Way season” so far to keep you thinking about, and being inspired by, the night sky, along with some getting-to-know you facts about ...

The Andromeda galaxy lies just beyond (...OK, about 2.5 million light-years beyond) our galaxy, the Milky Way. For the past hundred years or so, scientists thought these galaxies existed in a long ...

The Milky Way was on a collision course with a neighboring galaxy. Not anymore. NASA scientists had forecast an impending crash in four billion years, sending the sun flying ...