Fast Facts About the Milky Way Galaxy
The Milky Way Galaxy is the name given to our home in the cosmos. We have never imaged the Galaxy from the outside, only from our position in the solar system. As a result, much of what we know about the structure has to be inferred from clever and detailed studies. While there are many fast fact pages I can write about the Galaxy, within this article I have chosen four important ones for understanding our home location.
Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist, Senior Scientist with the American Museum of Natural History and Editor at dailygalaxy.com. Jackie was formerly a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science.