Local Group
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The Local Group is a collection of galaxies that includes our own Milky Way, along with other nearby galaxies in space. It matters because studying this group helps us understand how galaxies are organized and interact with one another in our corner of the universe.
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Article
A map of the Local Group with two subgroups of both Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies around its center Distribution of the iron content (in logarithmic scale) in four neighbouring dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way
The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way, where Earth is located. It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape; the Milky Way and its satellites form one lobe, and the Andromeda Galaxy and its satellites constitute the other. The two collections are separated by about 800 kiloparsecs (3×10^ ly; 2×10 km) and are moving toward one another with a velocity of 123 km/s. The center of the group is located at about 450 kpc (1.5 million ly) away from the Milky Way, placing it slightly closer to the Andromeda Galaxy by roughly 300 kpc (1 million ly), in which the latter may be more massive than the former in terms of mass.