Читать книгу Universe: The story of the Universe, from earliest times to our continuing discoveries - Peter Grego - Страница 19

Shaped like a flattened disk with a central bulge, our home galaxy the Milky Way is arranged in a loosely-wound spiral, with a number of curving arms composed of stars and glowing gas clouds. Two nearby small satellite galaxies – the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds – drift some distance beyond the edge of the Milky Way. From our perspective deep within an arm of the galaxy, we see the Milky Way as a glowing band which circles the heavens. Looking towards the bright galactic region in the vicinity of the constellation of Sagittarius, we are peering directly towards the centre of the galaxy. Our view of the actual galactic hub is blocked by dense interstellar clouds of dust and gas, which show up as dark silhouettes against the brighter parts of the Milky Way.

Clouds of interstellar dust and gas in Sagittarius obscure our view of the Milky Way’s bright core.

Around 2.9 million light years away lies the Andromeda Galaxy – the nearest big galaxy to our own, the Milky Way.