At night, from a dark location, part of the clear sky looks milky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This unusual swath of dim light is generally visible during any month and from any location. Until the invention of the telescope [ http://es.rice.edu:…], nobody really knew what the "Milky Way" was. About 300 years ago telescopes caused a startling revelation: the Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] was made of stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Only 70 years ago, more powerful telescopes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] brought the further revelation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that the Milky Way is only one galaxy among many. Now telescopes in space allow yet deeper understanding. The above picture [ http://map.gsfc.nas…] was taken by the COBE satellite [ http://arcturus.mit…] and shows the plane of our Galaxy in infrared light [ http://www.ipac.cal…]. The thin disk of our home spiral galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is clearly apparent, with stars appearing white and interstellar dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] appearing red.
Explanation
At night, from a dark location, part of the clear sky looks milky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This unusual swath of dim light is generally visible during any month and from any location. Until the invention of the telescope [ http://es.rice.edu:…], nobody really knew what the "Milky Way" was. About 300 years ago telescopes caused a startling revelation: the Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] was made of stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Only 70 years ago, more powerful telescopes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] brought the further revelation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that the Milky Way is only one galaxy among many. Now telescopes in space allow yet deeper understanding. The above picture [ http://map.gsfc.nas…] was taken by the COBE satellite [ http://arcturus.mit…] and shows the plane of our Galaxy in infrared light [ http://www.ipac.cal…]. The thin disk of our home spiral galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is clearly apparent, with stars appearing white and interstellar dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] appearing red.
