AstroKids › Everything in the sky › The Orion Arm
part of the galaxy · our home spiral arm

The Orion Arm

Minor spiral arm of the Milky Way that the Sun resides in, connecting the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

🚀 Travel there

What it is

Part of the galaxy: Parts of a galaxy rather than objects in it: arms, bars, the bulge. Every kind of thing there is →

Can you see it?

Not as one thing, no — the Orion Arm is a place rather than a sight, and you are already inside it. What you go out and look at are the things in it, one at a time.

Worth knowing about the Orion Arm

What it is made of
A minor spiral arm of the Milky Way, a bridge-like structure connecting the Sagittarius and Perseus Arms; the Orion Nebula is one of its landmark features.
How we know: Astronomers map gas cloud and young star cluster positions/motions with radio telescopes, which see through dust, tracing the arm's shape around us.
What makes it worth knowing
For most of the 20th century assumed to be a minor 'spur'; modern radio mapping shows it's longer and more substantial.

Next to it

The Galactic Bar and Bulgepart of the galaxyNaked eyeThe Stellar Halopart of the galaxyNot observableThe Dark Matter Halopart of the galaxyNot observableThe Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eyeProxima CentauristarWith effortAlpha Centauri A & Bbinary star systemNaked eye
📖 How the Milky Way fits together

Then go outside

Too big to look at all at once — but the things inside it are not. The Planetarium will show you which are up.

🌙 Plan an evening outside🌌 Everything else in the sky