Milky Way - Our Home Galaxy
The Milky Way is our home galaxy, a barred spiral containing 100-400 billion stars. From Earth, we see it as a band of light across the night sky.
Distance: We're inside it!
Size: 100,000 light-years diameter
Type: Barred Spiral (SBbc)
Age: 13.6 billion years
Key Features:
- Central bulge in Sagittarius
- Spiral arms we see edge-on
- Dark nebulae create "Great Rift"
- Galactic center: 26,000 ly away
- Contains our Solar System
- Andromeda collision in 4.5 billion years
Best Imaging: Summer (Sagittarius region) or Winter (Orion region)
Requires: Dark skies, wide-field lens, tracking mount
