Our solar system is a tiny –
tiny!
– part
of a gigantic spiral galaxy, the Milky
Way. This is made up of billions of
stars, which look as if they have been
sprinkled thickly onto the night sky.
The Milky Way
Where are the oldest stars in the Milky Way?
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The universe
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Our place
in space
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A star
is born
A side view
The Milky Way, like
all spiral galaxies, is
flat, with a bulge at the
centre, and arms that
circle outwards.
Kalahari bushmen say it
was created by hot embers
thrown up from a fire.
Native American stories
tell of a dog dropping corn
as he fled across the sky.
The ancient Egyptians
believed the stars were
a pool of cow’s milk.
Hindu myth sees the
milkiness as the speckled
belly of a dolphin.
Milky myths
Many myths have developed about the
formation of the Milky Way.
Why is it milky?
Before the invention of telescopes, people
could not see the stars very clearly – they
were blurred together in a hazy white
streak. The ancient Greeks called this streak
a “river of milk”. This is how our galaxy
became known as the Milky Way.
Scientists think there
are about 100,000
million stars in the
Milky Way galaxy,
but there may be
even more.
