Map of the Universe

Local Group

Galaxy group · Group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way

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Local Group
Picture: Antonio Ciccolella, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

About the Local Group

The Local Group is about 1.37 million light-years from the Sun, so the light we see from it left about 1.37 million years ago.

The map lists it as a galaxy group and shows it at the scale of the Milky Way and the Local Group, drawn on the plane of the Milky Way.

Our galaxy group: the Milky Way, Andromeda, Triangulum and more than 100 dwarf galaxies, about 3 Mpc (10 million light-years) across with a total mass of 2–4 trillion suns. Its barycentre lies ~0.45 Mpc from us toward Andromeda.

Key numbers

Distance1.37 million light-years (0.42 Mpc)
Distance methodredshift-independent (literature)
Supergalactic coordinatesSGL 336.2°, SGB +12.6°

Where it is

Its place in the universe, from the inside out: Local Group › Virgo Supercluster › Laniakea Supercluster › Observable universe.

Zoom out to see it in context: Local Group, a view about 10 million light-years across.

From Wikipedia

The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way, where Earth is located. It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape; the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies form one lobe, and the Andromeda Galaxy and its satellite galaxies constitute the other.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Local Group, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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