From Global Warming Art
Structure of the Milky Way - In this diagram, the Orion Arm is labelled "Local Spur". The position of the Solar System is indicated by the yellow dot
[1].
The Orion Arm is a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy some 3,500 light years across and approximately 10,000 light years in length.[2] The Solar System and Earth are within the Orion Arm. It is also referred to as the Local Arm, the Local Spur or the Orion Spur.
The Orion Arm is named for its proximity to the stars in the Orion constellation. It is located between the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm, two of the four major arms of the Milky Way. Within the Orion Arm, the solar system and Earth are located close to the inner rim in the Local Bubble, about half-way along the Arm's length, approximately 8,000 parsecs (26,000 light-years) from the galactic center.
Messier objects
The Orion arm contains a number of Messier objects:
Interactive maps
Orion and neighboring arms (clickable map)
The nearest nebulae and star clusters (clickable map)
See also
References
- ^ See the "Spiral Arms" part of this NASA animation for details
- ^ Harold Spencer Jones, T. H. Huxley, Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Royal Institution of Great Britain, v. 38-39
External links
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Earth's location in space |
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| Each arrow should be read as "within" or "part of". |
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