On moonless nights, when no clouds are visible, a bright band can be seen in the sky. If you look at it through binoculars or a telescope, we will notice that it consists of millions of stars. And for a long time people did not know what a stripe is. Therefore, various legends were invented to explain this. More on “How To See the Milky Way” below in this article.
Therefore, scientists use these names – the Galaxy or the Milky Way. They did not agree with anyone, but this is something like an unwritten rule. This allows you to unify, for example, scientific work. After all, many peoples of the world have their own names for the Milky Way.
And in the scientific community it has become customary that the Galaxy is called that way, with a capital letter, so as not to be confused with other galaxies. Also known as the Milky Way.
How to see the Milky Way?
Binoculars or a small telescope are enough to make out the myriad stars that make up the Milky Way. The greatest concentration of stars and the maximum width of the Milky Way are observed in the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio; it is least populated by stars on the opposite side of the sky – near Orion’s Belt and Capella. Accurate astronomical observations confirm the first visual impression: the Milky Way’s band marks the central plane of a gigantic, disk-shaped star system—our Galaxy, often referred to as the “Milky Way galaxy.” One of its stars is our Sun, located very close to the central plane of the Galaxy.
Look For Dark And Transparent Skies.
Clouds, light haze, high humidity – all these factors will not completely hide the Milky Way, but will make it indistinct. The complex structure of the Milky Way is even more visible when viewed through small binoculars.
Find a place away from city lights, streetlights, roads. Watch only on a moonless night: the moon plays the same detrimental role in the sky as streetlamps. The best place to observe the Milky Way is the forest edge, the remote countryside, the steppe, the mountains and the seashore.
Be sure to stay in complete darkness for 15-20 minutes before starting observations. This will help your eyes adjust to the dark and become much more sensitive.
Conclusion
The Milky Way Galaxy is one of hundreds of millions of similar star systems discovered in the Universe using large telescopes. It is often referred to as “our star system”. It belongs to large galaxies with fast rotation and clear spiral arms, in which young hot stars and clouds of gas heated by their radiation, called “emission nebulae”, are concentrated. With the help of optical telescopes, it is not possible to study the entire Galaxy, since light does not penetrate through dense interstellar clouds of gas and dust, which are especially numerous in the direction towards the center of the Galaxy. However, for infrared radiation and radio emission, dust is not a hindrance: with the help of appropriate telescopes, it is possible to explore the entire Galaxy and even break through to its dense core.