Milky Way Anatomy

This infographic with artist’s concept views of our Milky Way galaxy highlights its main components: the disk, bulge, stellar halo, and dark matter halo. Scientists have a pretty good idea of the Milky Way’s overall structure, but since we’re nestled inside it, fine details are hard to see. Astronomers have used observations from different telescopes to piece together our galaxy's anatomy, and future observatories like NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will make the picture even clearer.

Artist's concept animation of the Milky Way tilting from face-on to edge-on.

Artist's concept animation of the Milky Way tilting from face-on to edge-on with a label at the top.

Artist's concept animation of the central bulge portion of the Milky Way tilting from face-on to edge-on. Includes looping GIF and labeled and unlabeled versions.

Artist's concept animation of the Milky Way and its surrounding dark matter halo tilting from face-on to edge-on. Includes looping GIF and labeled and unlabeled versions. The dark matter halo is roughly one million light-years across, or ten times the width of the Milky Way's disk.

Artist's concept animation of the Milky Way and its surrounding stellar halo tilting from face-on to edge-on. Includes looping GIF and labeled and unlabeled versions. The stellar halo is roughly 300,000 light-years across, or three times the width of the Milky Way's disk.