how is it that we have photographs of the entire milky way galaxy if we are a part of the milky way?

Question

I seen so many photographs that appear to show the entire galaxy but it seems to me to be impossible to get a camera that far away. forgive me, I have never taken any astronomy classes so I am sure this is a stupid question

Answer 1

http://www.venusproject.com/ecs/images/photos/galaxy.jpg
as you can see, we're surrounded by the spiral arms of our galaxy.

http://www.admiraltigerclaw.com/tenchimapgrid.jpg
basically our galaxy and our location (sol system)
includes added ficticious locations and labels

oh, I get your question.
yes, we have not sent a ship that far into space yet.
I've wondered the same thing. Maybe computer approximations, or maybe we use other galaxies to represent ours (many galaxies share the same shapes)

Answer 2

Good question.

The simple answer is, we don't have have any photographs of the entire Milky Way, for exactly the reason you describe. What we have are photos of other spiral galaxies which astronomers believe to be similar to our own galaxy.

The photo of a spiral galaxy you'll see most often is of the Andromeda galaxy. Being the closet galaxy to ours, it's the one we can photograph with the most detail.

Technically, publishers should indicate clearly in a photo's caption that it is a galaxy similar to the Milky Way but not the actual Milky Way. But of course, publishers can be lazy.

Answer 3

The photos of the Milky Way are shots of the galactic core, not the entire galaxy. Some publications will insert photos of other spiral galaxies to represent ours. Recently, it was determined that the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, so those depictions are wrong. The image in my source is an artists rendering.

Answer 4

No. Even the main huge black holes basic, with a hundred's off hundreds of thousands time the mass of the solar, are purely the size of our image voltaic gadget. while in comparison with the primary distance even between 2 stars in our stellar community, this is tiny. whilst theoretically a black hollow can incorporate each and every of the mass of the Universe, once you're anxious approximately one swallowing a galaxy this is not gonna take place.

Answer 5

Only if you don't ask it.

We don't photographs of the entire galaxy because, as you note, we are part of it.

HOWEVER, we are on the edge of the galaxy, so just like if you live on the edge of a city you can take a photo of most of the city, so too can we can photos of most of the galaxy.

Answer 6

Those photos must be either: a) another galaxy
b) a hypothetical map that fits all things known about the milky way, much like people made maps before satellites were invented.

Answer 7

There are no pictures of the entire milky way. You are probably looking at pictures of other galaxies.

Answer 8

You have seen panoramic photos. That is several photos of the entire sky stiched together in an image processing program.

Answer 9

We don't. Because we would have to be outside the galaxy to take a picture of it as you are describing. We have lots of pictures of others galaxies.

Answer 10

the spiral lines