The Milky Way: Crash Course Astronomy #37
Today we're talking about our galactic neighborhood: The Milky Way. It's a disk galaxy, a collection of dust, gas, and hundreds of billions of stars, with the Sun ...
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Over the past few weeks I’ve talked about our Sun, the planets, and other objects in our solar system, stars (both big and small), brown dwarfs, exoplanets, supernovae, and clouds of gas and dust. What do all these things have in common? Well, they — WE — all live in the same town. It’s a big town, and it’s called the Milky Way galaxy. Let’s cut to the chase: The Milky Way galaxy is a vast, flat, disk-shaped collection of gas, dust, and stars; a sprawling megalopolis that’s a mind-crushing 100,000 light years across and several thousand light years thick. The Sun is but one of HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of stars in it, and we’re located halfway out from the center, in the suburbs. The disk has two major spiral arms in it, and two minor ones. These come together more or les...
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Over the past few weeks I’ve talked about our Sun, the planets, and other objects in our solar system, stars (both big and small), brown dwarfs, exoplanets, supernovae, and clouds of gas and dust. What do all these things have in common? Well, they — WE — all live in the same town. It’s a big town, and it’s called the Milky Way galaxy. Let’s cut to the chase: The Milky Way galaxy is a vast, flat, disk-shaped collection of gas, dust, and stars; a sprawling megalopolis that’s a mind-crushing 100,000 light years across and several thousand light years thick. The Sun is but one of HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of stars in it, and we’re located halfway out from the center, in the suburbs. The disk has two major spiral arms in it, and two minor ones. These come together more or les...
