How far is the earth from the edge of the Milky Way galaxy?
2 Answers
Jan 15, 2016
The earth is on the Milky Way Galaxy.
Explanation:
You must consider one thing however, there is no way for us to look down upon our own galaxy as we might with the Andromeda galaxy for example. Astronomers have done their best to replicate what they think it looks like and where we sit within it.
image from www.daviddarling.info
This is one representation of what our galaxy may look like. As you can see we are pretty close to the outer edge.
Jan 16, 2016
Peter's answer is super. Some scientific surmises: Sun-MW plane is inclined to MW equatorial plane. Sun is above by about 20 light years. Sun-system's orbital period: about 250 million light years.
