When we gazed at the night sky we see the ribbon of hazy glowing band of stars, the Milky Way. Our Earth is part of Milky Way. In fact, the sun all other planets in the solar system and millions of stars are just a small part of Milky Way Galaxy. There are trillions of galaxies in the universe, our galactic home is the only galaxy that astronomers have researched the most. In India, the name for Milky Way galaxy is “Akas Ganga”. Check out these Milky Way Galaxy Facts that will blow your mind.

What is a Milky Way Galaxy?

Huge group of stars, objects, gas, rocks and dust makes a. galaxy. So why these stars and objects don’t go away from each other? The elements of the galaxy are held together by gravity. The sizes and shapes of galaxies are different. Our Milky Way galaxy is barred from spiral shape.

Arms of Milky Way

Astronomers from the past guess that our galaxy has two major arms that are stretched around the galaxy. But the information gathered from the spacecraft suggested that there are two major and two minor arms of the galaxy. The names given to major arms are Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus while that of minor arms are Norma and Sagittarius.

Age of Milky Way

The Milky Way galaxy began forming about 13.6 billion years ago.

Local Group

Our Milky Way galaxy is a part of a group of 50 galaxies. This group is known as Local Group. The closest galaxy to the Earth which is just 2.5 million light years away is Andromeda Nebula. The Andromeda along with metallic clouds is included in the Local Group. Virgo Superclusters of galaxies contain large groups of galaxies including the Local Group.

Galactic Center

The galactic center has a supermassive black hole which is just 26,000 light-year distant from Earth. Black hole is also referred to as Sagittarius A*. Black hole is said to have a mass of 4.3 million suns.   

Who noticed the Milky Way for the first time?

In 1620, Galileo was the first astronomer to recognize the Milky Way as a belt of independent stars. After a short time an American astronomer, Edwin Hubble told the correct shape of the Milky Way galaxy. He also predicted the existence of similar galaxies in the universe.

Collision of Galaxies

According to scientists, a collision of galaxies would take place after 4 billion years. Because the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy are proceeding towards each other at a speed of 120 km per second. Of course we will never see that happen until we are alive.

How many stars the Milky Way has?

When observed with naked eye at night it appears that the Milky Way is made of 2,500 stars. Actually, there are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way.

From where the name has derived?

The Milky Way appeared as a milky band of stars and gas in the sky, therefore, the Greeks named it Milky Circle. So the word is derived from Milky Circle or galaxias kyklos.

Cherokee’s explanation of Milky Way formation

Cherokee’s explanation of Milky Way formation is quite interesting. The Milky Way was formed when a dog stole a bag of cornmeal from the house of an old couple. The super dog fled into the sky where some of the grains spilled forming the Milky Way. The Cherokee legend thus named it “The Way the Dog Ran Away”.

Shape of Galaxies 

Two-third of the galaxies are spiral in shape while the other two-third are barred. The Milky Way has a bar-shaped core with a flat disc of dust, gas and stars.

Keper-186f Planet

In 2015, astronomers discovered a new planet at the outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy. This planet was named Keper-186f. It is rotating around a dwarf star. Keper-186f is 4.730 trillion years away from the center of the galaxy and can support life (may be).

Have you seen an original picture of the Milky Way Galaxy?  

Definitely, the pictures you have seen of the Milky Way are made by artists or are of other galaxies. It is, obviously, difficult to take an aerial picture of the galaxy in which we are present.

Diameter of Milky Way

The diameter of the Milky Way galaxy is 100,000-180,000 light-years.

Solar System Rotation

Solar system rotates around the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of about 827000 kph.

Silver River     

In China the name of the Milky Way is “Silver River”. This river was created by the gods to keep weaver and herdsman apart.

Supernovea in Milky Way

Supernovea is a process that occurs in the Milky Way galaxy frequently. The Milky Way is losing stars due to this process. In this process, a star towards the end of its life explodes thus giving rise to 4 or 5 new stars.

Does the Milky Way contain all the Stars?

Before 1920, astronomers thought that all the stars in the universe are present in our Milky Way galaxy but later this assumption proved wrong.

All these Milky Way Galaxy facts may have developed your interest in galaxies but still there is lot to know. Researcher don’t know whether life exists in other galaxies or not. Hopefully, we will know the secret after bunch of years.