What Is The Milky Way? It’s Our Home Galaxy

Do you think of the Milky Way as a starry band across a dark night sky? Or do you think of it as a great spiral galaxy in space? Both are correct. Both refer to our home galaxy, our local island in the vast ocean of the universe, composed of hundreds of billions of stars, one of which is our sun.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Amr Abdulwahab captured this image of the Milky Way on July 8, 2022. Amr wrote: “Sahara el Beyda, the White Desert Protected Area, is a national park in Egypt, first established as a protected area in 2002. It is located in the Farafra depression, 28 miles (45 km) north of the town of Qsar El Farafra. Part of the park is in the Farafra Oasis (New Valley Governorate). The park is the site of large white chalk rock formations, created through erosion by wind and sand.” Thank you, Amr!

Long ago, it was possible for everybody in the world to see a dark, star-strewn sky when they looked heavenward at night. In those ancient times, humans looked to the starry sky and saw a ghostly band of light arcing from horizon to horizon. This graceful arc of light moved across the sky with the seasons. The most casual sky-watchers could notice that darkness obscured parts of the band, which we now know to be vast clouds of dust.

Myths Of The Milky Way

Myths and legends grew up in different cultures around this mysterious apparition in the heavens. Each culture explained this band of light in the sky according to its own beliefs. To the ancient Armenians, it was straw strewn across the sky by the god Vahagn. In eastern Asia, it was the Silvery River of Heaven. The Finns and Estonians saw it as the Pathway of the Birds.