The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy consisting of dust, gas and stars. It is about 100,000 light years in diameter and contains about 200 billion stars. The Milky Way is thought to be about 13.6 billion years old. Our Solar System is located about 27,000 light years from the center of the galaxy. The Milky Way is thought to have two major spiral arms, the Scutum-Centaurus arm and the Perseus arm.