The Milky Way
by Chris Cook
Title
The Milky Way
Artist
Chris Cook
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Milky Way is our own galaxy viewed from the inside. It is a vast collection of more than 200 billion stars, planets, nebulae, clusters, dust and gas. Our own sun and solar system are also part of the Milky Way galaxy. Seen as a luminous band of light and star clouds that stretch across the night sky, the brighter star clouds of the Milky Way are frequently mistaken for real Earth-bound clouds by observers who are unfamiliar with their appearance. Sometimes interrupted by dark nebulae and rifts, these star clouds are actually innumerable unresolved faint stars. From a really dark location, the Milky Way is even bright enough to cast shadows. Recent observations indicate that the Milky Way is a giant as spiral galaxies go, with a mass of possibly more than 750 billion solar masses, and a diameter of 100,000 light years. M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, appears to be larger, but the Milky Way is more massive. Our Milky Way is a spiral galaxy of Hubble type Sb or Sc and a member of the local group, a group of galaxies which contain the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, M33, and the M31 - M32 - M110 system, and many other small galaxies. Our own solar system is located about 28,000 light years from galactic center, in a relatively quiet section of an outer arm. Photograph taken in New Mexico.
Uploaded
October 28th, 2014
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