Error finding ID 6660 in win_images

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3404 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3404 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element Video

Error finding ID 3404 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3404 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element Title

Error finding ID 3404 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3404 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3405 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3405 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3406 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3406 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3407 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3407 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3408 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3408 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3410 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3410 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3411 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3411 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3412 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3412 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3413 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3413 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3415 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3415 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3416 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3416 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3417 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3417 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3418 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3418 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3419 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3419 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3420 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3420 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3421 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3421 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3422 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3422 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3423 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3423 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3425 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3425 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3437 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3437 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3438 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3438 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3439 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3439 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3440 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3440 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3441 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3441 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3442 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3442 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3444 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3444 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3445 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3445 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3446 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3446 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3447 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3447 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3449 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3449 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3451 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3451 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3452 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3452 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3453 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3453 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3454 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3454 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3455 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3455 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 3514 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=3514 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 5950 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=5950 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 5983 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=5983 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

Error finding element ImageSmall

Error finding ID 6511 in

Error finding content SELECT * FROM win_content WHERE PageID=6511 AND Element= AND (Level='elem' OR Level='all') AND Lang='en'

The Milky Way Galaxy - Our Home - Windows to the Universe

The Milky Way Galaxy - Our Home

The Milky Way galaxy is a giant star-city. Our Sun is one star in the city, and there are many, many others, our neighbors. Our Galaxy looks like a pinwheel - it is a spiral galaxy. There are spiral arms and a bright central part. The Sun is far from the center of the Galaxy. The Sun is going around the center of the Galaxy, and it takes the Earth with it!

In our Galaxy, there are some old stars and some young ones. While the Sun is old compared to you, it is young compared to the Galaxy.

Look at where the Sun is in our Galaxy. There are many more stars in the center part than in the spiral arms where the Sun is. Can you imagine what the sky might look like if our Sun, and the Earth, lived near the center of the Galaxy, our star-city?



A galaxy like the Milky Way as viewed from the top, and the actual Milky Way as viewed in the infrared
Click on top image for diagram (276K JPEG)
Click on bottom image for diagram (204K JPEG)
European Southern Observatory & NASA COBE Project
Like other spiral galaxies, the Milky Way has a bulge, a disk, and a halo. Although all are parts of the same galaxy, each contains different objects. The halo and central bulge contain old stars and the disk is filled with gas, dust, and young stars. Our Sun is itself a fairly young star at only 5 billion years old. The Milky Way galaxy is at least 5 billion years older than that.

Questions and answers about the Milky Way

A Matter of Scale - interactive showing the sizes of things, from very tiny to huge - from NSF

Last modified January 11, 2006 by Travis Metcalfe.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Spiral Galaxies

Spiral galaxies may remind you of a pinwheel that blows in the breeze. Like a pinwheel, a spiral galaxy is rotating, and it has spiral arms. Through a telescope or binoculars,a spiral galaxy may look...more

NASA Launches Satellite to Study Big Bang

NASA launched a new satellite called the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). It will help scientists study the Big Bang by looking at light coming from objects far away. This will allow scientists...more

Coyote

In Navajo mythology, the Milky Way was created by the mischievous god, Coyote. Coyote was very impatient when the Holy People decided to place the stars in the sky. In his anger, he chose to place a red...more

Galaxies - Star Cities

When we look up at the night sky, we notice that there are many stars in our sky. Stars must like to live together in star cities - galaxies. Our city of stars is called the Milky Way, and it is home to...more

Light Pollution

What is light pollution? Simply put, light pollution is the unwanted illumination of the night sky created by human activity. Light pollution is sometimes said to be an undesirable byproduct of our industrialized...more

A Newly Discovered Solar System Has Smaller Versions of Saturn and Jupiter

For a long time, scientists have wondered if there are other systems of planets like our own in our galaxy. Recently scientists discovered a solar system that has smaller versions of Jupiter and Saturn....more

Gamma Ray Bursts - The Most Powerful Objects in the Universe?

Satellites in the 1960's looked for a type of light called Gamma Rays. They found bursts of Gamma Rays coming from outer space! They can't hurt you. They are stopped by the Earth's atmosphere. We have...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA