The Local Group

galaxies · space · cosmic neighbors · astronomy

Two galaxy superclusters. The Local Group has a dumbbell shape with the Milky Way on one end and Andromeda on the other, separated by about 3 million light-years. Smaller satellite galaxies orbit around each of these giant galaxies like moons.

They're moving closer. Andromeda and the Milky Way are pulling toward each other at a speed of 123 kilometers per second due to gravity. Eventually, in billions of years, they will merge into one enormous galaxy.

Andromeda might be bigger. Scientists think Andromeda could actually be more massive than our Milky Way, even though we live in the Milky Way. The exact center of the entire Local Group sits closer to Andromeda than to our home galaxy.

Far from everything else. The Local Group is just a tiny neighborhood in the vast universe, separated by huge distances from other galaxy groups. Even our nearest galaxies are millions of light-years away.

Home to billions of stars. Between the Milky Way and Andromeda alone, there are hundreds of billions of stars, each possibly with their own planets and maybe even life.