Galaxies and Their Sizes
Part of Scales of the Universe.
AMNH/D. Finnin
We live in the Milky Way Galaxy, a disk-shaped galaxy roughly a hundred thousand light-years across and two thousand light-years thick. The smallest dwarf galaxies are a few percent of that size. The largest galaxies, found at the centers of galaxy clusters, are more than ten times larger than the Milky Way.
In This Section
Exhibit
Milky Way Galaxy
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Local Group of galaxies, then this model is the relative size of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Exhibit
Messier 87
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Local Group of galaxies, then this model is the relative size of Messier 87.
Exhibit
Messier 101
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Local Group of galaxies, then this model is the relative size of Messier 101.
Exhibit
NGC 1365
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Local Group of galaxies, then this model is the relative size of NGC 1365.
Exhibit
Messier 80
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Milky Way Galaxy, then this model is the relative size of the globular star cluster Messier...
Exhibit
Oort Cloud
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the globular star cluster Messier 80, then this model is the relative size of the Oort Cloud...
Exhibit
Kuiper Belt
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Oort Cloud of comets, then this model is the relative size of the Kuiper Belt of comets.
Exhibit
Rigel
If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Kuiper Belt of comets, then this model is the relative size of blue supergiant star Rigel.