The sun is in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way at a distance of 2/3 from the galactic center. We are located inside the galaxy, so we cannot take a full look at it from the side and create a clear map.
Scientists believe that the Milky Way belongs to symmetric spirals, which was confirmed 10 years ago when it detected symmetric elements of spiral arms. The galaxy cannot be considered completely flat, because Shield and Centaurus have small protrusions.
In 2011, it was possible to note the large-scale spiral feature, which was called the “External Sleeve of the Centauri Shield”. Further analyzes have shown that it is 4000 light-years distant from the galactic center and resembles a spiral arm in the direction of Perseus. Scientists decided to investigate the site in more detail, using radio measurements in ionized gas, observed in the ultraviolet of hot young stars. It turned out that this territory forms new stars, where some specimens are massively superior to the Sun by hundreds of times. They mark the outer line for the scale formation of stars in our galaxy.
