Our Home in the Galaxy
The Milky Way
Look up at the sky on a dark,clear night and you will see what looks like a bright band of light stretching across the sky.People long ago thought the band looked like poured milk spilled among the stars.The called it the Milky Way-and so do we.Today we know that the band of light in the sky comes from the glow of billions of stars.
Up,Up and Away
For Good Measure
The solar system is our home in the Milky Way galaxy.But the solar system is only a small part of this vast neighborhood in space.The milky Way also includes billions of other stars besides our sun.Huge numbers of planets,smaller objects,dust,and gas and gas also belong to our galaxy.
For Good Measure
As you know,the milky way,and all galaxies,are enormous in size.Astronomers tell the milky way is about 100,000 light years from side to side.A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.It equals 5.9 trillion miles(9.5 trillion KM)
The Milky Way Galaxy
Th milky way galaxy,as seen from above looks like a giant pinwheel,with long,curved arms.Our solar system is located in one of the arms.It is about halfway between the center of the galaxy and the outer edge.
Around and Around
The planets revolve around the sun.At the same time,the whole solar system revolves around the center of the galaxy.The solar system speeds along at about 135 miles per second (217 KMPS).It takes 225 million years to make one huge loop around the center of the Milky Way.
