The Milky Way Galaxy (centre) is the home of our Solar System, but it is not alone in space. It belongs to a cluster, called the Local Group, of mainly very small galaxies. This illustration shows the distribution of some of the closer members, out to 500,000 light-years, including the Magellanic Clouds. The entire cluster contains more than 40 members, including the large Andromeda galaxy, and measures about 8 light-years across.