# Galaxy proportion and position

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 21, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766 "2012-12-21T18:34:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/1 "2012-12-21T18:34:45Z")

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If you take a couple of quarters to represent the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies,

how far away would the two quarters be from each other?

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/2 "2012-12-21T18:55:26Z")

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Various Googling suggests that the distance to the Andromeda galaxy is about 25 times the diameter of the Milky Way: (2.5 million LY vs 100,000 LY). So that’s around 2 ft.

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**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/3 "2012-12-21T19:24:24Z")

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Contrast that to this proportion: if our Solar System were the size of a quarter, the Milky Way galaxy would be the size of the continental United States. Each quarter would be thousands of feet apart. This is why galaxies routinely collide but individual stars don’t.

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**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/4 "2012-12-22T04:59:00Z")

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> [@Yumblie](#):
>
> Contrast that to this proportion: if our Solar System were the size of a quarter, the Milky Way galaxy would be the size of the continental United States. Each quarter would be thousands of feet apart. This is why galaxies routinely collide but individual stars don’t.

And, depending on estimates, you’re looking at about $75,000,000,000 USD in quarters spread across the United States.

Lets get to it, these quarters aren’t gonna roll themselves…

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**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/5 "2012-12-22T05:36:26Z")

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> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> If you take a couple of quarters to represent the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies

Nit: Andromeda is about twice as large as the Milky Way (220 kly to 120 kly), so it’s actually closer to a dime and a fifty cent piece.

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**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/galaxy-proportion-and-position/644766/6 "2012-12-22T18:56:10Z")

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> [@cmyk](#):
>
> And, depending on estimates, you’re looking at about $75,000,000,000 USD in quarters spread across the United States.
> 
> Lets get to it, these quarters aren’t gonna \*\*\*roll \*\*\*themselves…

Nitpick: _“Wrap”_ themselves