If we could view our galaxy from the outside, it would appear like the Andromeda galaxy (M31), a central bulge surrounded by extensive spiral arms. However, since the Sun lies in the plane of the galaxy, our view is through the galactic disc that we see as the
luminous band of faint stars and nebulae called the Milky Way.

With a capital initial G, by convention, the galaxy or family of stars
to which the Sun and solar system belong, visible in the night sky
as the Milky Way. Our Galaxy is a spiral, possibly a mildly barred
spiral galaxy, containing of the order of two hundred billion stars
as well as much interstellar matter, both dark and luminous.
It is disc-shaped with an almost spherical bulge at the centre.
The disc is 100,000 light years across, but much of its content is
concentrated in a thin layer only 2,000 light years thick towards
its outer edges, though stars are distributed through a somewhat
thicker disc. The central bulge has a radius of about 15,000 light years.

Studies of the dynamics of stars and interstellar material suggest
that the luminous material we can see accounts for as little as
10 per cent of the total mass of the Galaxy. The rest is so-called dark matter, in a form not yet identified. The spiral arms are concentrations of stars and interstellar material appearing to wind outwards from the edge of the bulge. Regions of star formation and ionized hydrogen are concentrated in the arms. In the space between the arms, the average density of matter is a factor of two or three lower than within the arms. The Sun is located about 28,000 light years from the galactic centre, within the disc, near the inner edge of a spiral arm.

                                                  The whole Galaxy is in rotation, but not as a rigid body, so it is
                                                  constantly deforming. The Sun takes about 220 million years
                                                  to complete a circuit, but stars nearer the centre take shorter
                                                  times.
                                                  Centred on the nucleus is a sparsely populated, roughly spherical
                                                  region, with a radius of at least 50,000 light years, known as
                                                  the galactic halo.
                                                  The halo contains globular clusters and, in general, the oldest stars
                                                  in the Galaxy. There is very little luminous matter in the halo
                                                  compared with the disc and central bulge, though gravitational
                                                  studies suggest that the invisible component of the
                                                  Galaxy's mass is probably distributed in a sphere around the
                                                  Galaxy rather than concentrated in the disc.
                                                  This dark matter is thought to extend up to 300,000 light years,
                                                  far beyond the halo defined by visible objects, into what is
                                                  sometimes termed the galactic corona.

                                                  The innermost nucleus, lying in the direction of the constellation
                                                  Sagittarius, is concealed from direct optical observation by dense
                                                  opaque dust. However, observations in the infrared and radio
                                                  regions of the spectrum, and at gamma-ray and X-ray
                                                  wavelengths, suggest that the core contains a tightly packed
                                                  sphere of stars and a black hole.
                                                  The likely mass of the black hole is disputed, some
                                                  astronomers suggesting it could be as little as 100 solar masses,
                                                  others saying it could be a million solar masses.