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The Milky Way is a moderately large galaxy. At least 100,000 light years in diameter, and roughly 1000 light years thick, our disk shaped and spiral armed galaxy contains anywhere from 200 to 400 billion stars. The Milky Way, along with the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, and other nearby small or dwarf galaxies, comprise the Local Group. The Local Group in turn is part of a large cluster of galaxies called the Virgo Supercluster.
The Solar System lies about half way out from the center of the Milky Way. It has a rotational radius of about 26,000 light years, and orbits the Milky Way's center about once every 250 million years. It is thought that the center of the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole.
The current best estimate of the Milky Way's age is 13.2 billion years, almost as old as the Universe itself, determined to be 13.7 billion years.
Our Solar System is located in a "star city" or galaxy called the Milky Way. The word galaxy ultimately comes from the Greek language, and corresponds to "milky circle".
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