How do scientists take pictures of the milky way when we're in it?

Question

I've seen pictures of the universe and the Milky Way, how do scientists and all them take them when we are in them? Your heart doesn't know what you look like....

yes I know they may use satellites but how???? the galaky is billions of light years across so the satellites must have been sent off by the dinosaurs!!!!!!

Answer 1

They can't take a picture of the Milky Way as a whole, in the way that they can of Andromeda. But they can take pictures of bits of it, and then piece them together.

We're actually on the outside edge of our galaxy, a long way from the centre - so it's posible to see quite a lot.

Answer 2

Satellite cannot get far enough away to take photographs of the whole milky way. The pictures you saw was probably an artists impressions based on measurements made from the earth of our galaxy and other similar ones perhaps also using computer simulations.
But you are right you cannot take a photograph as if millions of light years away from the Milky Way Galaxy. See the link as an example. I am sure NASA would show a real photograph rather than an artists impression if it were possible.
I know of no picture of the whole Universe except perhaps of the micro-wave background then that is like taking a panaroma/360' photograph from inside a football stadium.

Answer 3

There is no picture of the milky way for the reason you just put on this question. Since the earth is in it! So you cannot see it as a whole. However the solar system is at the edges of the Milky Way disk thus it is possible to see most of it. A typical picture of the milky way can be seen in this address http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990224.html

What you saw was probably another galaxy similar to the milky way.

Answer 4

They have never taken a picture of the Milky Way Galaxy except from inside it. The pictures you are talking about are of galaxies similar to the Milky Way (other Spiral galaxies). No satellite or space craft from earth has ever travelled beyond the edge of the galaxy. The most distant ones have just recently left our solar system which is a minute part of the Galaxy.

Answer 5

The only real photos of the Milky Way are taken from the inside. What some have done is to construct photo-mosaics, piecing together a bunch of photos, correcting for distortion and presenting the composite picture in the form of a map (first link below).

Any "outside" photo is either a reconstruction (by computer) or photos of another galaxy which we think looks like the Milky Way. One that is often used is NGC-4414, used by National Geographic (second link).

The Andromeda Galaxy does look similar to ours, but there are enough differences AND it is sufficiently recognisable on its own, that astronomers do not use it as often to represent our Milky Way. NGC-4414 is more like what we think the Milky Way would look like from the outside.

Answer 6

Many of the pictures labeled Milky Way are actually the Andromeda Galaxy. You can take a picture of the Milky Way by photographing the part of the Milky Way we see at night.

Answer 7

They can extrapolate the shape of our milky way from the position and motions of nearby stars - the images you see are pictures of similar galaxies (sometimes even artists' impressions). They are not pictures of our own galaxy.
people who say we send out satellites are mistaken - it would take many thousands of years to get a satellite far enough away to take a picture and send it back.

Answer 8

It's not a picture of the whole milky way you have seen, that would be impossible. Earth is in the middle of the milky way so if we look out in any direction we can see the milky way around us. Yes its like standing in a field and taking a picture of the field.

Answer 9

There are no pictures of the Milky Way from outside the Milky Way. It's just not possible yet. If you've seen pictures of our galaxy from an outside perspective, they're either pictures of other galaxies or they're not actual photographs.

Answer 10

Not possible yet that is, but scientists can compare what they see to other galaxies. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. Images you may see are Artists impressions..... Nice though...