vruz: "The Milky Way, if we could see…" - Mastodon 🐘

vruz @vruz@mstdn.social

The Milky Way, if we could see it from above.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/01/The_best_Milky_Way_map_by_Gaia

A digital render by ESA depicting the Milky Way galaxy, our home galaxy, with its spiral arms and its luminous, hazy oval core.

The image represents what our home galaxy, the Milky Way, might look like face-on: as viewed from above the disc of the galaxy, with its spiral arms and bulge in full view. In the centre of the galaxy, the bulge shines as a hazy oval, emitting a faint golden gleam. Starting at the central bulge, several glistening spiral arms coil outwards, creating a perfectly circle-shaped spiral. They give the impression of someone having sprinkled pastel purple glitter on the pitch-black background, in the shape of sparkling, curled-up snakes.

#astronomy #gaia #ESA

Mar 28, 2025, 03:15 PM··Web

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