Milky Way | Real Property Funds

The Milky Way is the barred spiral galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name, derived from the Latin 'Via Lactea', refers to the hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars too numerous to distinguish individually. Estimates suggest it contains 100–400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets. At its center lies Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4 million times that of the Sun. Our galaxy is part of the Local Group, a cluster of galaxies that also includes the Andromeda Galaxy.