Browsing: Milky Way

The Milky Way is the spiral galaxy that contains our Solar System, stretching over 100,000 light-years across and housing hundreds of billions of stars, along with vast amounts of gas, dust, and dark matter. Seen from Earth as a hazy band of light across the night sky, the Milky Way is both our cosmic home and a subject of intense astronomical study. Researchers use observations of its structure, motion, and composition to better understand galaxy formation, the life cycles of stars, and the distribution of dark matter. From its central supermassive black hole to its farthest halo stars, the Milky Way offers a rich laboratory for exploring the dynamics of galaxies.