Milky Way
The Milky Way contains the Solar System within a dusty stellar disk. Its familiar band is our view along that disk, rather than an outside photograph of the whole galaxy. Gaia’s stellar positions, parallaxes and motions supply depth and dynamics, while infrared and radio observations investigate obscured stars and gas. Combining those measurements reconstructs the galaxy’s structure and its history of star formation and encounters.
NASA/JPL-Caltech · illustrationExplore nearby systems The catalogue follows stars around the Sun, within 100 parsecs.
NASA · Milky Way 
