Milky Way. March of the stars in space

From time immemorial, people have been excited and impressed by the whitish band of dim stars that appears in the night sky. Now we know that this is our home - the Milky Way galaxy. The visible picture of the Milky Way is a consequence of the fact that our solar system is located on the outskirts of the galaxy. We observe it from the inside near the plane of symmetry of the cluster of stars.

The Milky Way passes through the Northern Hemisphere through the constellations Aquila, Arrow, Chanterelle, Cygnus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus and Gemini. Leaving for the Southern Hemisphere, it captures the constellations of Unicorn, Stern, Sails, Southern Cross, Compasses, Southern Triangle, Scorpio and Sagittarius. It is especially bright in the constellation Sagittarius, in which its center is located.

The constellation Sagittarius in the northern latitudes does not rise high above the horizon, so here the Milky Way is not as noticeable as in the Southern Hemisphere. Its middle line is called the galactic equator. The Milky Way, together with the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and more than 40 satellite galaxies - its own and Andromeda - form the Local Group, which in turn is part of the Local Supercluster.

(ESO)

(ESO/S. Brunier)

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

(Anne Dirkse)

(Anne Dirkse)

(ESO/Jose Francisco Salgado)

(NASA)