The galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way . You probably already knew that. But how much do you really know about this galaxy we inhabit? There are millions of features, curiosities, and hidden corners that make the Milky Way a special galaxy. It is, after all, our celestial home, as it is where the Solar System and all the planets we know are located. The galaxy we live in is teeming with stars, supernovae, nebulae , dark energy, and dark matter . However, there are still many things that remain a mystery to scientists.
We are going to tell you many things about the Milky Way, from its characteristics to curiosities and mysteries.
Milky Way Profile
This is the galaxy that forms our home in the universe. Its morphology is quite typical of a spiral galaxy with four main arms in its disk. It is made up of billions of stars of all types and sizes. One of those stars is the Sun. It is thanks to the Sun that we exist and that life has formed as we know it.
The center of the galaxy is 26.000 light-years from our planet. It's not known for certain if there are more, but it is known that at least one supermassive black hole is located at the center of the Milky Way. This black hole, which is the center of our galaxy, has been named Sagittarius A*.
Our galaxy began forming about 13.000 billion years ago and is part of a group of 50 galaxies known as the Local Group . Our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, is also part of this group of smaller galaxies, which also includes the Magellanic Clouds. It is, after all, a classification made by humans. A species that, when you consider the context of the entire universe and its vastness, is nothing.
The Local Group mentioned earlier is itself part of a much larger collection of galaxies called the Virgo Supercluster. Our galaxy is named for the bright band of stars and gas clouds we can see stretching across our sky through Earth. Although Earth is inside the Milky Way, we cannot have as complete an understanding of the galaxy's nature as some external star systems can.
Much of the galaxy is hidden by a thick layer of interstellar dust. This dust does not allow optical telescopes to focus well and discover what is there. We can determine the structure by using telescopes with radio waves or infrared. However, we cannot know with complete certainty what is in the region where interstellar dust is found. We can only detect the forms of radiation that are penetrating dark matter.
Key features
Let's take a look at some of the main characteristics of the Milky Way. The first thing we'll analyze is its size. It has a barred spiral shape and a diameter of 100.000-180.000 light-years. As we mentioned before, the distance to the center of the galaxy is approximately 26.000 light-years. This distance is something that humans will never be able to travel with our current lifespan and technology. Its formation age is estimated at 13.600 billion years, about 400 million years after the Big Bang.
The number of stars in this galaxy is difficult to count. We can't go around counting every single star, as knowing the exact number wouldn't be very useful. It's estimated that there are about 400.000 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. One of the interesting things about this galaxy is that it's almost flat. People who believe the Earth is flat will be proud that this is also true. The galaxy is 100.000 light-years wide but only 1.000 light-years thick.
It's like a flattened, warped disk where the planets are embedded in curved arms of gas and dust. That's what the solar system is like: a cluster of planets and dust with the Sun at its center, anchored 26.000 light-years from the turbulent center of the galaxy.
Who discovered the Milky Way?
It's difficult to know for sure who discovered the Milky Way. It is known that Galileo Galilei was the first to recognize the existence of a band of light in our galaxy as individual stars in 1610. This was the first real evidence, which began when the astronomer pointed his first telescope at the sky and was able to see that our galaxy is made up of countless stars.
As early as 1920, Edwin Hubble provided sufficient evidence to show that the spiral nebulae in the sky were actually entire galaxies. This discovery greatly aided in understanding the true nature and shape of the Milky Way. It also helped to uncover the true size and scale of the universe in which we live.
We're not entirely sure how many stars the Milky Way has, nor is it particularly important to know. Counting them is an impossible task. Astronomers try to find the best way to do it. However, telescopes can only see one star brighter than others. Many stars are hidden behind the clouds of gas and dust we mentioned earlier.
One of the techniques they use to estimate the number of stars is to observe how fast the stars are orbiting within the galaxy. This indicates something about gravitational pull and mass. Dividing the mass of the galaxy by the average size of a star gives us the answer.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Milky Way and its details.
