The Milky Way is a galaxy that is part of a large group of galaxies. There are billions of galaxies in the observable universe, but the Milky Way is especially important because it houses the Solar System. The Milky Way is visible from Earth as a string of light in the night sky. It is difficult to see in bright towns and cities but is apparent in darker areas.

The Milky Way is visible from across the entire celestial sphere which originates from the stars. The plane of the Milky Way is inclined at about 60 degrees to the Earth's orbit. The Milky Way passes through many popular constellations such as Scorpius, Ara, Norma, Triangulum Australe, Circinus, Centaurus, Musca, Crux, Carina, Vela, Puppis, Canis Major, Monoceros, Orion and Gemini, Taurus, Auriga, Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus & Lacerta, Cygnus, Vulpecula, Sagitta, Aquila, Ophiuchus, Scutum, and Sagittarius.

The Milky Way appears to be brightest when looking in the direction of Sagittarius. The Milky Way passes as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of the Earth's equatorial plane. The Milky Way divides the night sky into two hemispheres which indicates that the Solar System lies close to the galactic plane.

The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter and is believed to be about 1,000 light years thick. It is estimated to be made of at minimum 200 billion stars and up to 400 million stars. Research estimates that the remaining gas around the Milky Way is approximately 12,000 light years thick.

It is difficult to define the age of the Milky Way. However, it has been narrowed down to about 13.2 billion years, nearly as old as the universe itself. The estimate is based on the research done in 2004 using the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the Very Large Telescope.

Alex Sutton has worked in the telescopes profession for nearly 11 years. For more information please visit telescopes http://www.coolscopes.com/