The Milky Way

space · galaxy · stars

Our home galaxy. The Milky Way is the huge galaxy that holds our Solar System, the Sun, Earth, and all the planets we know.

A milky stripe. Its name comes from how it looks in a dark night sky: a hazy, milky band of light stretching across the heavens.

Countless faraway stars. That glowing band is actually made of stars so far away that your eyes can't tell them apart, so they blur into a smooth glow.

Swirling arms. The galaxy has spiral arms, and the band we see comes from stars in arms different from our own.