Milky Way

The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Galaxia Kyklos), sometimes referred to simply as "the Galaxy", is a barred spiral galaxy which forms part of the Local Group. Although the Milky Way is but one of millions of galaxies in the universe, the Galaxy has special significance to humanity as it is the home of the solar system, which is located near the Orion Arm. Democritus (460 BC - 370 BC) was the first known person to claim that Milky Way consists of distant stars.

References

• J. P. Vallée, "The Milky Way's Spiral Arms traced by Magnetic Fields, Dust, Gas and Stars", The Astrophysical Journal, volume 454, pp. 119-124, 1995. Available online through NASA's Astrophysics Data System
• Press release, Canadian Galactic Plane Survey
• Press release, European Southern Observatory
• Sandage, A. & Fouts, G., The Astrophysical Journal, volume 97, p. 74, 1987
• Foley, Ryan J. "Study Details Bar at Center of Milky Way". Retrieved August 17 2005.