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Explanation: What does our Milky Way Galaxy look like from the side? Because we are on the inside, humanity canBt get an actual picture. Recently, however, just such a map has been made using location data for over a billion stars from ESABs Gaia mission. The resulting featured illustration shows that just like many other spiral galaxies, our Milky Way has a very thin central disk. Our Sun and all the stars we see at night are in this disk. Although hypothesized before, perhaps more surprising is that the disk appears curved at the outer edges. The colors of our Galaxy's warped central band derive mostly from dark dust, bright blue stars, and red emission nebulas. Although data analysis is ongoing, Gaia was deactivated in March after a successful mission.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Milky Way
Publications with words: Milky Way
See also:
- Galaxies in Space
- APOD: 2025 February 9 B Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles
- APOD: 2024 November 24 B Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 November 5 B Milky Way over Easter Island
- APOD: 2024 August 4 B Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 29 B Milky Way over Uluru
- APOD: 2024 May 29 B Stairway to the Milky Way