On a very dark night, far away from city lights, you might see a soft, glowing stripe stretching across the sky.
That glowing stripe is our home in space. It is called the Milky Way.
Let's find out what it really is. Tap Next to begin! 🚀
A galaxy is a giant family of stars, dust, and gas all held together in space. The Sun is just one star in our galaxy.
How many stars do you think live in the Milky Way? Tap the cloud to count them!
stars revealed
Scientists think the Milky Way has around 100 billion to 400 billion stars. That is a LOT!
If you counted one star every second, how long to count 100 billion?
From far away, the Milky Way looks like a giant spinning pinwheel, with curved arms made of stars. Slide to make it spin faster!
Spin speed
We live inside the galaxy. So when we look toward its middle, all those faraway stars blur together into a soft, milky glow — like spilled milk across the sky.
Tap a star to discover what makes the glow.
Our Sun (and Earth!) sits on one of the spiral arms — not in the busy centre. Drag the Sun onto its home on the arm.
Here's what you learned about the Milky Way:
🌌 The Milky Way is our galaxy — a giant family of stars.
⭐ It holds 100–400 billion stars, including our Sun.
🌀 It is shaped like a spinning spiral with curved arms.
🥛 We live inside it, so the stars look like a milky glow in the sky.
🏠 Our Sun lives out on one of the arms, not in the centre.
🌟 Well done, explorer! 🌟
Next clear, dark night — see if you can spot the Milky Way for real.