Focus Areas for Swift Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is typical: it
has hundreds of billions of stars, enough gas and dust to make
billions more stars, and about six times as much dark matter as
all the stars and gas put together. And it’s all held together
by gravity. Like more than two-thirds of the known galaxies, the
Milky Way has a spiral shape. At the center of the spiral, a lot
of energy and, occasionally, vivid flares. are being generated.
Based on the immense gravity that would be required explain the
movement of stars and the energy expelled, the astronomers
conclude that at the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive
black hole.