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Credit & Copyright: ESA,
Gaia,
DPAC;
Text:
Ata Sarajedini
(Florida Atlantic U.,
Astronomy Minute podcast)
Explanation:
Our sky is alive with the streams of stars.
The motions of 26 million
Milky Way stars are evident in the
featured map constructed from recent data taken by
ESA's
Gaia satellite.
Stars colored blue are
moving toward us, while red indicates away.
Lines depict the
motion of the stars across the sky.
The large blue on the left and red areas on the map's right give the overall impression
that stars in the Milky Way are
rotating around the center.
However, there is a region near the middle --
caused by our own
Sun's motion
relative to a rigidly-rotating central
Galactic bar -- that seems to reverse it.
Understanding details about the
motion of stars is
helping humanity to better understand the
complex history of our
Milky Way galaxy
and the origin of
our Sun.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Milky Way
Publications with words: Milky Way
See also:
- Galaxies in Space
- APOD: 2025 February 9 Á Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles
- APOD: 2024 November 24 Á Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 November 5 Á Milky Way over Easter Island
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 29 Á Milky Way over Uluru
- APOD: 2024 May 29 Á Stairway to the Milky Way