Here are some interesting facts about the Milky Way galaxy
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1) Structure: Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, consisting of hundreds of billions of stars, gas, dust and dark matter, with a central bar-shaped structure
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2) Size: It is estimated to be approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter, containing between 200 and 400 billion stars
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3) Age: It is thought to have formed around 13.6 billion years ago, during the early universe, through the merging of smaller galaxies
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4) Central Black Hole: At the centre of the Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), with a mass of approximately 4 million times that of the Sun
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5) Star Formation: The Milky Way is constantly forming new stars, particularly in the spiral arms, where gas and dust are more abundant
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6) Milky Way interacts with other galaxies, including the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which are satellite galaxies
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7) Observational Challenges: Because we are embedded within the Milky Way, observing its structure and contents can be challenging due to gas and dust blocking our view