Milky Way

Milky Way, the large, disc-shaped galaxy, or aggregation of stars, that includes the Sun and its solar system. Its name is derived from its appearance as a faintly luminous band that can be seen stretching across the sky at night. Its hazy appearance results from the combined light of stars too far away to be distinguished individually by the unaided eye. The individual stars that we see in the sky are those in the Milky Way galaxy that lie sufficiently close to the solar system to be discerned separately.

Milky Way Galaxy Our solar system lies in one of the spiral arms of the disc-shaped galaxy called the Milky Way. This photograph looks towards the centre of the Milky Way, 30,000 light years away. Bright star clusters are visible in the image along with darker areas of dust and gas.Photo Researchers, Inc./Morton-Milon/Science Source

From the middle northern latitudes, the Milky Way is best seen on clear, moonless, summer nights, when it appears as a luminous, irregular band circling the sky from the north-eastern to the south-eastern horizon. It extends through the constellations Perseus, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. In the region of the Northern Cross, which is part of Cygnus, it divides into two streams: the western stream, which is bright as it passes through the Northern Cross, fades near Ophiuchus, or the Serpent Bearer, because of dense dust clouds, and appears again in Scorpius; and the eastern stream, which grows brighter as it passes southward through Scutum and Sagittarius. The brightest part of the Milky Way extends from Scutum to Scorpius, through Sagittarius. The galactic centre is in the direction of Sagittarius and is about 26,000 light years from the Sun.



The Origin of the Milky Way
The origin of the name Milky Way dates back to the ancient Greeks in a myth.
This painting by Italian artist Tintoretto, completed between 1575 and 1580, depicts a legend about how the Milky Way was formed. Jupiter, hoping to immortalize his infant son Hercules (who was born to a mortal woman), placed the baby on Juno’s breast. Her milk spilled up, forming the Milky Way. The Origin of the Milky Way is in the National Gallery in London.
Corbis/Jacopo Tintoretto/The National Gallery, London