The Milky Way

The Milky Way system is a spiral galaxy consisting of over
400 billion stars , plus gas and dust arranged into three general components as shown to the left:

The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias) sometimes referred to simply as "the Galaxy"), is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. Although the Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe,[4] the Galaxy has special significance to humanity as it is the home galaxy of the planet Earth. The plane of the Milky Way galaxy is visible from Earth as a band of light in the night sky, and it is the appearance of this band of light which has inspired the name for our galaxy.

  • The halo - a roughly spherical distribution which contains the oldest stars in the Galaxy,
  • The nuclear bulge and Galactic Center.
  • The disk, which contains the majority of the stars, including the sun, and virtually all of the gas and dust

The Halo

The Halo consists of the oldest stars known, including about 146 Globular Clusters, believed to have been formed during the early formation of the Galaxy with ages of 10-15 billion years from their H-R Diagrams. The halo is also filled with a very diffuse, hot, highly-ionized gas. The very hot gas in the halo produces a gamma-ray halo.

Neither the full extent nor the mass of the halo is well known. Investigations of the gaseous halos of other spiral galaxies show that the gas in the halo extends much further than previously thought, out to hundreds of thousands of light years. Studies of the rotation of the Milky Way show that the halo dominates the mass of the galaxy, but the material is not visible, now called dark matter.

19 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

This is not a picture of the Milkey way. It is the Galaxy Messier 31 A.K.A. Andromeda almost like our Galaxy but much smaller. If you go out side on a clear night you should be able to see it with the naked eye. I wonder all the time what our galaxy looks like. I can only wonder...

Nur Hanis Shamin said...

Micheal, Well let's just think about it.

Anonymous said...

how to buy viagra online buying viagra from canada - buy viagra online malaysia

Anonymous said...

buy soma soma 31 - cheap holidays to soma bay egypt

Anonymous said...

buy soma online muscle relaxer medications soma - soma discount offer

Anonymous said...

soma no prescription soma medication history - soma generic 350 mg

Anonymous said...

buy soma soma saga sale - soma tabs medication

Anonymous said...

order soma order soma online overnight delivery - order soma from usa

Anonymous said...

buy xanax overnight delivery generic xanax buy - buy xanax online with no prescription needed

Anonymous said...

buy xanax 1mg xanax generic good - xanax 9 mg

Anonymous said...

generic xanax order xanax online no prescription canada - xanax 2mg pics

Anonymous said...

order tadalafil cialis online reliable - buy cheap viagra cialis

Anonymous said...

how to buy cialis online generic cialis nz - cialis online pharmacy reviews

Anonymous said...

cialis price cialis daily 36 hour - cialis uses

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol apap high - order tramadol from usa

Anonymous said...

learn how to buy tramdadol buy tramadol 6914 - tramadol withdrawal 2 weeks

Anonymous said...

klonopin for anxiety can you really buy klonopin online - klonopin side effects mayo

Anonymous said...

http://www.integrativeonc.org/adminsio/buyklonopinonline/#8491 klonopin recreational use erowid - klonopin side effects kids