• Question: what is the milkyway

    Asked by Mad Scientist to wajiha, Rosie, Phil, Chris on 14 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Rosie Cane

      Rosie Cane answered on 14 Jun 2017:

      The Milky Way is our galaxy that we live in! It’s one huge spiral made up of at least 100 billion stars, as well as dust and gas.

      Our Solar System, the Sun and our planets, are in one of the arms of this huge spiral. You can see what our Milky Way looks like here: https://checkthisscience.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/milky-way-you-are-here.jpg?w=1108

      We can also see the Milky Way at night from here on Earth. If you are somewhere without many lights around and there are no clouds, you can see this across the sky:

      That is a part of our galaxy, the Milky Way, seen as a ‘milky’ clouded band across the sky, filled with billions of stars! Incredible!

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