What is the difference between a MilkyWay and Galaxy?

Question

What is in a Milkyway and Galaxy? What is the big bright light in the middle of the galaxy? I heard our solar system is on the outside of the galaxy or something

Answer 1

The Milky Way is the nickname for the particular galaxy in which we exist.

The term "milky" originates from the hazy band of white light appearing across the celestial sphere visible from Earth, which comprises stars and other material lying within the galactic plane. The galaxy appears brightest in the direction of Sagittarius, towards the galactic center. Relative to the celestial equator, the Milky Way passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of Earth's equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic relative to the galactic plane.The fact that the Milky Way divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres indicates that the solar system lies close to the galactic plane.

The main disk of the Milky Way Galaxy is about 80,000 to 100,000 light-years in diameter, about 250,000 to 300,000 light-years in circumference, and outside the Galactic core, about 1,000 light-years in thickness. It is composed of 200 to 400 billion stars. As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if the galaxy were reduced to 130 km (80 mi) in diameter, the solar system would be a mere 2 mm (0.08 inches) in width. The Galactic Halo extends out to 250,000 to 400,000 light-years in diameter. As detailed in the Structure section below, new discoveries indicate that the disk extends much farther than previously thought.

Answer 2

The Milky Way is a galaxy, our galaxy. Some Galaxys have been given real names, like ours and Andromeda, most are just given alphanumerical classifications.

The bright light in the center is called the Glactic Core, it is believed super massive black holes exist in the center of most if not all Galaxys. The bright light is because of a high density of large older stars. If the presumed black hole is feeding, it will also emit a lot of energy across the electro-magnetic spectrum, including light. This phenomenon is known as a Quazar and is the brightest known activity, besides supernovae.

Our solar system is not actually outside the Galaxy, but is located in a very distant spiral arm at the edge. This is why our own galaxy appears so faint. However, if you live in a rural area with little light pollution, it can be seen with the naked eye, appearing as a blotchy strip across the sky. Were our system closer to the galactic core, it would be much more readily apparent.

Answer 3

MilkyWay is one name for the galaxy we are part of. The Sun is a star that is gravitationally "caught" in orbit around the center of this galaxy. Bright light? Hmm. not sure.. you can't be talking about the radiation being given off "by" the massive black hole in our galaxy's center? or maybe all of the clusters of stars that way, there's a lot of 'em.
Much as the Moon and all sorts of space debris orbits the Earth; and as the Earth and the other 7 planets, the asteroids, dust, comets and gas orbits the Sun, the Sun (and all of the afore mentioned) orbit the center of the galaxy with a hundred billion other stars.
We believe we are about 2/3 of the way out from the center on an "arm" of the MikyWay. More recently, I may have heard we are a little further out than that. But this is all moot since we KNOW that the mass we see in our galaxay can not account for our orbit, and that estimating the size of the galaxy IGNORES the elephant in the room (that being we don't know what all is included in the galaxy, so we can't say where the edge is - anyway the edge is like talking about the edge of space or the atmosphere - its very arbitrary)

Answer 4

There are millions of galaxys in our universe which is the largest thing out there. We live in one of those galaxys which is called the Milkyway. I'm not sure what you're asking about the big bright light, but in the center of our solar system (which is inside the milkyway) are two foci. One being the sun and the other as far as I know is unknown. Check out youtube.com for some videos on astronomy that are very informative and could probably explain this topic better than I can.

Answer 5

Milkyway:
The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Galaxia Kuklos) is the galaxy in which the Earth is found. When viewed from the Earth and its environs, it appears in the night sky as a hazy band of white light (hence "milky") across the celestial sphere, formed by stars within the disc of its namesake galaxy. It is also simply known as the Galaxy, as the Earth's solar system is a part of it.

Galaxy
A galaxy is a accumulation of stars and gas that is held together by gravity. The gravitational pull within a galaxy is stronger than the force of the Hubble Expansion, so the elements of a galaxy to not expand away from each other. Galaxies can be spiral-shaped, elliptical, or irregular.

Answer 6

The milky way is our own galaxy. It is named after the very vague band of stars that stretches out across the sky. In lit cities it is almost impossible to see with the blind eye, but if the conditions are right you can see it, and will look like spilled milk. Hence, the milky way.
The milky way is one of the arms of our very own galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy. To be clear, a galaxy is a large collection of stars (and everything in its orbit).
The bright light in the middle of the galaxy...must be something you are misinformed of. In fact, most people believe that the center of our galaxy is a black hole.
Our solar system is not quite on the outside of the galaxy. It is somewhat in the the middle of one of the spiraling arms.

Answer 7

Way back then before we had any kind of understanding of the structure of the universe, ancient were gazing at the star and seeing this long cloud of luminous stuff, made up story about it being milk spilled by the goddess Hera while feeding Hercules.
When it was found that this was the arm of a huge elliptical concentration of stars, the Greek root for "milk" (gala) was used to describe such structures, of which billions exist in the universe. "Milky Way" thus became the official name of the galaxy we are residing in, we are about 2/3 of the way from the center.
The concentration of stars in a galaxy increases from the edge to the center, and the center forms a bulge. The center of galaxies is also believed to be occupied by giant black holes.

Did you know that dwarf galaxies orbit around our Milky Way? The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Could are just two of such satellites galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. The universe is just choke full of wonders.

Answer 8

The Milky Way is what you see on a very clear night far from city lights. It is a band of light across the sky. You are seeing the disk of our own galaxy as you look toward the center. The center of most galaxies is not really quite as bright as the pictures indicate, typically the center is overexposed so the stars in the less dense arms show up. However, the concentration of stars typically is higher in the center so it is brighter.

Answer 9

The Milky technique is a galaxy, our galaxy. some Galaxys have been given actual names, like ours and Andromeda, maximum are merely given alphanumerical classifications. the outstanding mushy in the middle is everyday because of the fact the Glactic middle, that's believed large massive black holes exist in the middle of maximum if no longer all Galaxys. the outstanding mushy is in view that of a extreme density of great older stars. If the presumed black hollow is feeding, it will additionally emit somewhat a great form of power around the electro-magnetic spectrum, inclusive of mushy. This phenomenon is talked approximately as a Quazar and is the brightest everyday undertaking, to boot supernovae. Our sunlight technique won't in any respect be rather outdoors the Galaxy, yet is placed in an particularly distant spiral arm on the side. this is why our very own galaxy seems so faint. even nevertheless, could desire to you stay in a rural concern with little mushy air pollutants, it must be sizeable with the bare eye, displaying as a blotchy strip by using the sky. have been our technique in direction of the galactic middle, it must be plenty extra merely obtrusive.

Answer 10

MilkyWay
Our Galaxy, of which the Sun is a member, seen by the naked eye as a luminous band across the sky.

Galaxy: A large body of gas, dust, stars, and their companions held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. They are grouped into three main categories: spiral galaxies; elliptical galaxies, containing mostly older stars, which range in shape from spherical to "football" shaped; and irregular galaxies, which, as their name implies, are irregularly-shaped and generally smaller in size. Another class of galaxies is peculiar galaxies, which are thought to be distorted normal galaxies.