Milky Way
hideThe Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe.
Its name is a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn translated from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), referring to the pale band of light formed by the galactic plane as seen from Earth (see etymology of galaxy). Some sources hold that, strictly speaking, the term Milky Way should refer exclusively to the band of light that the galaxy forms in the night sky, while the galaxy should receive the full name Milky Way Galaxy, or alternatively the Galaxy. However, it is unclear how widespread this convention is, and the term Milky Way is routinely used in either context.
For more information about Milky Way, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with milky way
Cassini's Big Sky: The View from the Center of Our Solar System
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When NASA's Cassini spacecraft began orbiting Saturn five years ago, a dozen highly-tuned science instruments set to work surveying, sniffing, analyzing and scrutinizing the Saturnian system.
NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope ...
Starring Intelligent Aliens
Nov 05, 2009 |
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The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found.
Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of ...
Fermi Telescope Detects Gamma-Ray From 'Star Factories' in Other Galaxies
Nov 02, 2009 |
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Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite ...
Physicist makes new high-res panorama of Milky Way
Oct 28, 2009 |
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Cobbling together 3000 individual photographs, a physicist has made a new high-resolution panoramic image of the full night sky, with the Milky Way galaxy as its centerpiece. Axel Mellinger, a professor at ...
Invisible matters: How dwarf galaxies may lose their light
Oct 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study seeking to answer the question of why some galaxies are extremely dark compared with others may eventually help to explain the formation of all galaxies, according to researchers ...
New Vista of Milky Way Center Unveiled
Sep 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A dramatic new vista of the center of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory exposes new levels of the complexity and intrigue in the Galactic center. The mosaic of ...
Zooming to the centre of the Milky Way -- GigaGalaxy Zoom phase 2
Sep 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online. It is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our home galaxy as seen ...
Sophisticated telescope camera debuts with peek at nest of black holes
Sep 15, 2009 |
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Less than two months after they inaugurated the world's largest telescope, University of Florida astronomers have used one of the world's most advanced telescopic instruments to gather images of the heavens.
Kepler and the Search for Life in Our Galaxy
Sep 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are so many stars in our galaxy that even if planets with complex life (animals and plants) are rare - say one for every billion stars - there could still be dozens here in the Milky ...
Black Hole Pumps Iron
Sep 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- This composite image of the Hydra A galaxy cluster shows 10-million- degree gas observed by Chandra in blue and jets of radio emission observed by the Very Large Array in pink. Optical data ...
Astronomers unveil an amazing, interactive, 360-degree panoramic view of the entire night sky
Sep 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The first of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project — a new magnificent 800-million-pixel panorama of the entire sky as seen from ESO's observing sites in Chile — has just been released ...
NGC 4945: The Milky Way's not-so-distant Cousin
Sep 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- ESO has released a striking new image of a nearby galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way. Though the galaxy is seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest ...
Giant Galaxy Hosts the Most Distant Supermassive Black Hole
Sep 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Hawaii (UH) astronomer Dr. Tomotsugu Goto and colleagues have discovered a giant galaxy surrounding the most distant supermassive black hole ever found. The galaxy, so distant ...
