Fold.page · HDRI Environment Demo
Our galaxy — a barred spiral 100,000 light-years across
Scale & Structure
The background of this page isn't a background, it's an HDR environment. To get a sense of what this means activate your camera controls with Shift+P or hold the right mouse button for a second. You should be able to rotate the scene and see the environment from a different perspective.
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy containing an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars, bound together by gravity and orbiting a common centre roughly every 225 million years — a span called the galactic year.
Our solar system sits roughly 26,000 light-years from the galactic centre, on the inner edge of the Orion–Cygnus Arm — a minor spur between two of the major spiral arms, offering a relatively clear view outward through thinner dust lanes.
The sky behind this page is a single data attribute on a hidden element. No JavaScript required beyond Fold.init().
<!-- HDRI configuration element — presence = load the .hdr and show as background. No class = visible in screen mode and XR. --> <div data-foldpage-hdr-src="/demos/hdr/rogland_clear_night_2k.hdr" data-foldpage-hdr-intensity="0.7" style="display:none" ></div> Fold.init({ foldpage: true, loadingIndicator: false, });
Further Reading
The Gaia spacecraft (ESA, 2013–present) has measured precise positions and velocities for over 1.8 billion stars, producing the most detailed three-dimensional map of the Milky Way ever assembled. Its data has revealed streams of stars torn from disrupted globular clusters, substructure in the disc, and evidence that the galaxy is still actively accreting smaller satellite systems.
The Event Horizon Telescope published the first resolved image of Sagittarius A* in May 2022, completing a decade of coordinated observation across eight ground-based radio telescopes operating as a single Earth-sized interferometer at 1.3 mm wavelength.
HDR image: Rogland Clear Night 2K — courtesy Poly Haven (Greg Zaal), CC0.