世界各地有許多創造天地的神話圍繞著銀河系發展出來。很特別的是，在希臘就有兩個相似的希臘神話故事在解釋銀河是怎麼來的。有些神話將銀河和星座結合在一起，認為成群牛隻的乳液將深藍色的天空染白了。在東亞，人們相信在天空中群星間的霧狀帶是銀色的河流，也就是所謂天河。
Astonishing 'halo' of significant-Strength particles close to giant galaxy cluster is a glimpse into your early universe
A 2015 paper uncovered that there's a ring-like filament of stars referred to as Triangulum–Andromeda Ring (TriAnd Ring) rippling earlier mentioned and down below the relatively flat galactic plane, which alongside Monoceros Ring had been the two prompt to be principally the result of disk oscillations and wrapping round the Milky Way, in a diameter of at the very least fifty kpc (a hundred and sixty,000 ly),[126] which may be Section of the Milky Way's outer disk alone, as a result making the stellar disk greater by rising to this dimensions.
Our own solar program, for that reason, ought to be comparatively Harmless a result of the low chance of star collision. Having said that, we may perhaps locate ourselves thrown into a very various path within the new galactic Centre since the merger pushes by means of.
A study in 2020 concluded that Gaia detected a wobbling movement of your galaxy, which could be because of "torques from a misalignment with the disc's rotation axis with respect towards the principal axis of the non-spherical halo, or from accreted make a difference during the halo obtained in the course of late infall, or from nearby, interacting satellite galaxies as well as their consequent tides".
We may also use these stellar streams to reconstruct the formation historical past with the Milky Way. To date, we’ve observed 23 streams around the Milky Way but we expect there could possibly be a lot more! Mild from what was once a galaxy has become distribute out into these thin streams as an alternative to remaining concentrated in a single location, so these streams is often particularly faint and canopy a large space with the sky.
The Milky Way isn’t just large; it’s also superbly structured. It's a flat, disk-like form stuffed with billions of stars, which build spiral arms that wrap around the Middle. Think about a massive spinning record, but as opposed to grooves, it's got sparkling stars!
We're progressively learning more details on Sagittarius A* by way of initiatives like the first-at any time graphic with the black gap, which was received on May perhaps twelve, 2022. The impression captured faint quantities of gentle due to heated make a difference relocating super-rapid to the middle of your black gap; the graphic is often a high-definition shadow.
If you are Blessed adequate being someplace exactly where the sky is extremely, incredibly darkish, you'll see the Milky Way—massive, majestic, and dominating the evening sky. Most civilizations have tales to elucidate how the Milky Way arrived to exist. So exactly what is the Tale modern day astronomy tells of how the Milky Way shaped?
這張圖是從銀河系"北"側鳥瞰觀測（實線）和外推（虛線）的螺旋臂結構，恆星通常是順時針方向移動。從太陽（上方中心）輻射出的灰色線列出相對應星座名稱的縮寫（三個字母）。 顏色 螺旋臂
Though the Milky Way itself is seen มาวินเบท All year long, its Galactic Center — the brightest and most amazing element — is not really. The phrase Milky Way time refers back to the time of yr when this central location becomes visible while in the evening sky, featuring essentially the most breathtaking views of our galaxy.
There exists also evidence which the Milky Way collided with a number of smaller sized galaxies all through its evolution. In 2018, a staff of Dutch astronomers identified a group of thirty,000 stars relocating in sync through the sun's neighborhood in the opposite route to the rest of the stars in the data set.
But while you traveled further more, the size with the galaxy would reveal by itself. You should move enormous molecular clouds the place stars are born, locations such as the Eagle Nebula, household towards the popular Pillars of Generation—towering columns of gas lit by recently ignited stars.
Beyond the thin disk from the galaxy lies the halo, a vast spherical location populated by historical stars and globular clusters—dense, spherical swarms of as much as a million stars orbiting like satellites within the galactic Heart.