Schematic diagram of Local Group galaxies

Local Group galaxy cluster, computer graphic. Some 50 galaxies of the central area of the Local Group are shown relative to our spiral Milky Way Galaxy, shown at the centre of the circular grid. The concentric circles are 500, 000 light-years apart, and lines show the positions of galaxies above (green) or below (yellow) the Milky Way's galactic equator equator. The radial lines show the directions in the sky. The Local Group contains around 60 members and spans 10 million light-years (3.1 megaparsecs). The largest galaxies are the Milky Way, Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33). Virtually all of the others are much smaller, so-called dwarf-spheroidal galaxies, although a handful are irregular, such as the Magellanic Clouds. These smaller galaxies are shown larger than actual scale, for clarity.