galaxy from above

Price: PKR 75,000

Size: 29.7 x 21.0 cm (11.7 x 8.3 in)

Medium: Digital Art

Inspired by our Milky Way galaxy, this original, fictitious spiral galaxy gracefully shows its purple and cyan hues. Here are some interesting facts about our own Milky Way:

1. Home to Our Solar System: Approximately 100,000 light years in diameter, the Milky Way is the spiral galaxy that houses our solar system, with Earth located in one of its spiral arms called the Orion Arm.

2. Billions of Stars: It contains an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars, and it's just one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. 

3. Spiral Structure: The Milky Way has a spiral shape with arms composed of stars, dust, and gas. These arms are where star formation often occurs. About 7 new stars are born in the galaxy every single year.  Proxima Centauri is the Earth's closest star in the Milky Way. It is at least four light-years away. 

4. Supermassive Black Hole: At the center of the Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*, which has a mass of about 4 million times that of the Sun. Black holes are regions in space where gravity is incredibly strong, leading to an intense gravitational pull that prevents even light from escaping their grasp. They form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. 

5. Galactic Rotation: Stars and gas in the Milky Way don't orbit uniformly. Stars closer to the center orbit faster than those farther out.  It takes about 250 million years for our solar system to complete one galactic year, which is one trip around the galaxy. At that speed, an object would circumnavigate Earth’s equator in about 3 minutes. 

6. Dark Matter Dominance: The majority of the Milky Way's mass comes from dark matter, an elusive substance that doesn't emit or interact with electromagnetic radiation.

7. Galactic Collision Ahead: In about 4 billion years, the Milky Way will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy, leading to the formation of a new galaxy nicknamed "Milkomeda."

8. Galactic Cannibalism: The Milky Way has absorbed smaller satellite galaxies over its history, incorporating their stars and material into its own structure.

9. Visible with the Naked Eye: On a clear night, the Milky Way appears as a band of light stretching across the sky, composed of billions of distant stars.

10. Galactic Habitable Zone: Certain regions within the Milky Way are considered more conducive to the formation of habitable planets, known as the galactic habitable zone.