What's Outside the Solar System?

Most people know what makes up the solar system. The planets, which revolve around the sun. But what's outside the solar system?

Well, to answer that question, where does the solar system end? Well, past Pluto, one of our dwarf planets, we have a thin haze of dust. This dust is held in the sun's gravitational pull, so it is part of our solar system. This dust may stretch out halfway to the nearest star, approximately 4.2 light years away. There are many, many different types of stars in the Milky way. At our very center, there is thought to be a black hole, hidden by the clouds of the constellation Sagittarius.

The universe is mostly empty space. But since the universe is so big, there's still plenty to see. One of our neighbors is the Large Megellanic Cloud. It is made of of stars, gas, and dust. There are star clusters inside it, and nebula, which are dust and gas, from which stars are sometimes born. There are neighboring galaxies, such as the Andromeda Galaxy. Sometimes, galaxies are pulled into orbit around another. They collide and form new galaxies. It is thought that one day, our galaxy with collide with Andromeda.