Cosmic structures · Our group of 80+ galaxies

Local Group

You are here · Light crosses it in 10 million years

Across
10.0 million light-years
Vs Earth
100× Milky Way
Mass
2.0 trillion Suns

Open Local Group in Cosmic Scale

In the app, Local Group is part of the Beyond pack.

About

The Local Group is our galactic neighbourhood: more than 80 galaxies bound together by gravity, dominated by the Milky Way and Andromeda, with Triangulum a distant third and the rest mostly dwarfs.

The Milky Way and Andromeda dominate it; most of the rest are small dwarf galaxies.

At a glance

DiameterAbout 10 million light-years
Members80+ galaxies
Mass2 trillion Suns
Big membersMilky Way, Andromeda, Triangulum

Did you know

  1. Most of its members are dwarf galaxies, many of them faint enough that new ones are still being discovered.
  2. It is falling toward the Virgo Cluster, and with it toward the Great Attractor.
  3. Unlike the universe at large, the group is bound: its galaxies will not be carried apart by expansion.

Simulations