Cosmic Scale
Milky Way vs Andromeda Galaxy: size comparison
Andromeda Galaxy is about 1.52 times wider than Milky Way: 152,000 light-years across against 100,000 light-years.
Compare them in 3D, at true scale
| Milky Way | Andromeda Galaxy | |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 100,000 light-years | 152,000 light-years |
| Mass | 2.98 × 10⁴² kg | 2.98 × 10⁴² kg |
| Light crosses it in | 100,000.0 years | 152,000.0 years |
- Andromeda Galaxy is about 1.0 times more massive than Milky Way.
- Light takes 152,000.0 years to cross Andromeda Galaxy, and 100,000.0 years to cross Milky Way.
Milky Way: Home to 100–400 billion stars. The Sun takes 230 million years to go around once.
Andromeda Galaxy: Heading toward the Milky Way at 110 km/s — the two will merge in about 4.5 billion years.