Our Home the Milky Way

The mysterious Milky way

What is the Milky Way? Not to be confused with the candy bar Is known as a barred spiral galaxy Is the home galaxy of earth and humanity Is estimated to have be formed 6.5 – 10.1 billions years ago Is located within a group of 30 galaxies known as the local galaxies.

What makes up the milky way? Looking from the inside out

The Galactic Center Name: Sagittarius A* Thought to be a Supermassive black hole contains an intense compact radio source similar to those of black holes Cannot be studied with visible, ultraviolet or soft X-ray wavelengths due to cool interstellar dust. Can be studied with gamma ray, hard X-ray, infrared, sub-millimetre and radio wavelengths. Coordinates of Galactic Center were first found by Harlow Shapley in 1918

The Galactic Disk The area outside the Galactic Center where thousands of stars live Contains mainly Old stars (Red stars) Has a good amount of massive stars (large heavy stars) Has over 100 OB and Wolf-Rayet stars (massive stars that quickly loose energy)

Spiral Arms 6 arms total Inner arm: Norma Second arm: Scutum-Crux Third arm: Sagittarius Fourth arm: Orion Fifth arm: Perseus Last arm: Cygnus

Where we are in the Milky way The solar system may be found close to the inner rim of the galaxy’s Orion arm in the Local Fluff or the Gould Belt The distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Persians arm, is about 6,500 light years

How Did The Milky Way Get its Name? The Greeks named it "Galaxies Kuklos" or The Milky Circle. The Romans changed the name to "Via Lactea" or The Milky Road which later evolved into "The Milky Way."

Myths and legends about the Milky Way led to many names. Examples – Cherokee: Gili Ulisvsdanvyi "The Way the Dog Ran Away” – Hindu: śiśumãra cakra, the dolphin disc. – Hungarian: Hadak Útja "The Road of the Warriors".

LAB: Lets Build Our Milky Way Website: – galore/build/index.html galore/build/index.html

What way do we see the milky way from the inside? How will we be able to see the milky way from the outside? Why is it impossible to see both ways from the inside? Will we ever be able to see the galaxy fully?