What is the name of the largest known ring of stars in the Milky Way's outer disk?
Answer
Monoceros Ring
78 The Milky Way Galaxy Trivia Questions with Answers
78 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
What is the most massive young star cluster known in the Milky Way?
Answer
Westerlund 1
What is the name of the phenomenon of cool gas clouds falling onto the Milky Way at high speeds?
Answer
High-velocity clouds
What is the name of the faint stream of stars from a disrupted dwarf galaxy in the Milky Way's halo?
Answer
Sagittarius Stream
Which astronomer first mapped the shape of the Milky Way in the 18th century?
Answer
William Herschel
Which spiral arm of the Milky Way is located between the Sun and the Galactic Center?
Answer
Sagittarius Arm
What is the closest star to the Sun?
Answer
Proxima Centauri
Which spiral arm of the Milky Way lies just outside the Orion Arm?
Answer
Perseus Arm
What is the name of the elongated central structure of the Milky Way?
Answer
Galactic bar
What is the estimated total mass of the Milky Way (including dark matter) in solar masses?
Answer
1.5 trillion solar masses
What is the orbital period of the Sun around the Galactic Center in millions of years?
Answer
225 million years
What is the mass of Sagittarius A* in millions of solar masses?
Answer
4.1 million solar masses
Which dwarf galaxy is currently merging with the Milky Way?
Answer
Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
What is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way?
Answer
Omega Centauri
What is the name of the galaxy group that contains the Milky Way?
Answer
Local Group
At what speed does the Sun orbit the Galactic Center, in km/s?
Answer
220 km/s
How far is the Sun from the Galactic Center in light-years?
Answer
26,000 light-years
In which constellation does the center of the Milky Way lie?
Answer
Sagittarius
What is the approximate diameter of the Milky Way's disk in light-years?
Answer
100,000 light-years
How old is the Milky Way, in billions of years?
Answer
13.6 billion years
What is the name of the spiral arm that contains the Solar System?
Answer
Orion Arm
What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?
Answer
Spiral galaxy