Home › Milky Way

Milky Way 3D map: where is Earth in the galaxy?

Earth and the Sun are about 26,700 light-years from the centre of the Milky Way, in the Orion Arm, around 67 light-years above the galactic plane.

GalaxySim 3D places 36 nearby and bright stars, 16 nebulae, clusters and galaxies, and the galactic centre at their real positions — fly out from Earth and watch the solar system shrink to a point.

▶ Explore the Milky Way in 3D

The nearest and brightest stars

StarDistanceNote
Proxima Centauri4.25 lyclosest star; hosts Proxima b
Alpha Centauri A4.34 ly
Alpha Centauri B4.34 ly
Barnard's Star5.96 ly
Wolf 3597.86 ly
Lalande 211858.31 ly
Sirius A8.60 ly
Sirius B8.60 lywhite dwarf
Luyten 726-8 (UV Ceti)8.73 ly
Ross 1549.70 ly
Ross 24810.30 ly
Epsilon Eridani10.48 ly
Lacaille 935210.72 ly
Ross 12811.01 ly
61 Cygni A11.40 ly
Procyon A11.46 ly
Epsilon Indi11.87 ly
Tau Ceti11.91 ly
Kapteyn's Star12.83 ly
Altair16.73 ly
Vega25 ly
Fomalhaut25 ly
Pollux34 ly
Arcturus37 ly
TRAPPIST-141 ly7 Earth-sized planets
Capella Aa43 ly
Castor A51 ly
Aldebaran65 ly
Regulus A79 ly
Achernar139 ly
Spica250 ly
Canopus310 ly
Polaris433 ly
Betelgeuse548 ly
Antares550 ly
Rigel860 ly

Nebulae, clusters and galaxies in the simulator

Frequently asked questions

Where is Earth in the Milky Way?

About 26,700 light-years from the galactic centre, in the Orion Arm (also called the Orion Spur), a minor spiral arm between the larger Perseus and Sagittarius arms. The Sun is roughly 67 light-years above the galaxy’s mid-plane.

How big is the Milky Way?

Its disc of stars is roughly 100,000 light-years across and only about 1,000 light-years thick, holding an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars.

What is the closest star to the Sun?

Proxima Centauri, 4.25 light-years away. Light from it takes over four years to reach us; Voyager 1 would need more than 70,000 years to get there.

What is at the centre of the Milky Way?

A supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, about 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Its shadow was first imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2022.

Can I see the Milky Way in 3D?

Yes. In GalaxySim 3D, zoom out from the Sun past the nearby stars and the galaxy appears around you, with the galactic centre, the Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda at their real directions and distances.