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Chapter 16: The Milky Way Galaxy
The Shape of the Milky Way
In 1610 Galileo Galilei, the first astronomer with a telescope, discovered that the Milky Way was the light of countless stars, individually too faint to see with the naked eye. In almost 400 years since Galileo's discovery, we've learned much more about the Milky Way.
Our Galaxy is said here to look like either of two galaxies that we see. 1) Find the images of each of these and describe the appearance of each. 2) Describe any differences between the two that you can see.
Visit the The Milky Way Galaxy web site
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The Sun's Position in the Milky Way
The English word "galaxy" is derived from the Greek root "gala," meaning "milk." The name "Milky Way" is a literal translation from the Latin "Via Galactica," and is used to identify the band of light observed in the sky.
1) Data from 1977 and from 2000 disagree somewhat on the distance from the Sun to the center of the Galaxy. What are the two values? 2) How close is the Sun to the center of the plane of the Galaxy?
Visit the The Milky Way Galaxy web site
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