From our vantage point inside it, the Milky Way can feel infinite, a hazy river of light that wraps around the sky. Yet when astronomers measure it carefully, our home galaxy turns out to be a ...

The Milky Way is often described as measuring 100,000 light years across and containing the mass of a trillion Suns. But our ...

At the center of our galaxy, there’s a mysterious, diffuse glow given off by gamma rays — powerful radiation usually emitted by high-energy objects such as rapidly rotating or exploding stars. NASA’s ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of the local bubble, which surrounds our solar system. An interstellar cloud of ...

The Milky Way is our home galaxy with a disc of stars that spans more than 100,000 light-years. Though the Milky Way is generally always visible from Earth, certain times of year are better for ...