MILKY WAY GALAXY

Marathi names for planets

बुध - Mercury
शक्र
ु - Venus
पथ्
ृ वी - Earth
मंगळ - Mars
गरु
ु - Jupiter
शनी - Saturn
युरेनस - Uranus
नेपच्यून – Neptune

1 YEAR AGO BY FICTION IN ASTRONOMY, ASTRONOMY, FEATURED

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim “milky” glowing
band arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The term “Milky Way” is a
translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, from the Greek γαλαξίας κύκλος (pr. galaxías kýklos, “milky circle”). The Milky Way
appears like a band because it is a disk-shaped structure being viewed from inside. The fact that this faint band of light is made
up of stars was proven in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used his telescope to resolve it into individual stars. In the 1920s,
observations by astronomerEdwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter containing 100–400 billion stars. It may contain
at least as many planets. The Solar System is located within the disk, around two thirds of the way out from the Galactic Center,
on the inner edge of a spiral-shaped concentration of gas and dust called the Orion Arm. The stars in the inner ≈10,000 light-
years form a bulgeand one or more bars. The very center is marked by an intense radio source named Sagittarius A* which is
likely to be a supermassive black hole. Stars and gas throughout the Galaxy rotate about the center at approximately the same
speed, which contradicts the laws ofKeplerian dynamics. This indicates that much of the mass of the Milky Way does not emit or
absorb electromagnetic radiation; this mass is known as dark matter. The rotational period is about 200 million years at the
position of the Sun. The Galaxy as a whole is moving at a velocity of approximately 600 km per second with respect to
extragalactic frames of reference. The oldest known star in the Galaxy is about 13.2 billion years old, nearly as old as the
Universe. Surrounded by several smaller satellite galaxies, the Milky Way is part of theLocal Group of galaxies, which forms a
subcomponent of the Virgo Supercluster.

Appearance
When observing the night sky, the term “Milky Way” is limited to the hazy band of white light some 30 degrees wide arcing across
the sky (although all of the stars that can be seen with the naked eye are part of the Milky Way Galaxy). The light in this band
originates from un-resolvedstars and other material that lie within the Galactic
plane. Dark regions within the band, such as the Great Rift and the Coalsack,
correspond to areas where light from distant stars is blocked by interstellar dust.
The Milky Way has a relatively low surface brightness. Its visibility can be
greatly reduced by background light such as light pollution or stray light from
the moon. It is readily visible when the limiting magnitude is +5.1 or better, while
showing a great deal of detail at +6.1. This makes the Milky Way difficult to see
from any brightly lit urban or suburban location but very prominent when viewed
from a rural area when the moon is below the horizon.
The Milky Way passes through parts of roughly 30 constellations. The center of
the Galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius; it is here that the
Milky Way is brightest. From Sagittarius, the hazy band of white light appears to
pass westward to the Galactic anticenter in Auriga. The band then continues westward the rest of the way around the sky back
to Sagittarius. The fact that the band divides the night sky into two roughly equalhemispheres indicates that the Solar System lies
close to the Galactic plane.[citation needed]
The Galactic plane is inclined by about 60 degrees to the ecliptic (the plane of the Earth’s orbit). Relative to the celestial equator,
it passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high
inclination of Earth’s equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic relative to the Galactic plane. The north Galactic pole is situated
at right ascension 12h 49m, declination +27.4° (B1950) near beta Comae Berenices, and the south Galactic pole is near alpha
Sculptoris. Because of this high inclination, depending on the time of night and the year, the arc of Milky Way can appear
relatively low or relatively high in the sky. For observers from about 65 degrees north to 65 degrees south on the Earth’s surface
the Milky Way passes directly overhead twice a day.

Environment
The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are a binary system of giant spiral galaxies belonging to a group of 50 closely bound
galaxies known as theLocal Group, itself being part of the Virgo Supercluster.
Two smaller galaxies and a number of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group orbit the Milky Way. The largest of these is the Large
Magellanic Cloud with a diameter of 20,000 light-years. It has a
close companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Magellanic
Stream is a peculiar streamer of neutral hydrogengas connecting
these two small galaxies. The stream is thought to have been
dragged from the Magellanic Clouds in tidal interactions with the
Milky Way. Some of the dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky
Way are Canis Major Dwarf (the closest), Sagittarius Dwarf
Elliptical Galaxy, Ursa Minor Dwarf,Sculptor Dwarf, Sextans
Dwarf, Fornax Dwarf, and Leo I Dwarf. The smallest Milky Way
dwarf galaxies are only 500 light-years in diameter. These
include Carina Dwarf, Draco Dwarf, and Leo II Dwarf. There may
still be undetected dwarf galaxies, which are dynamically bound to
the Milky Way, as well as some that have already been absorbed
by the Milky Way, such as Omega Centauri. Observations through
the Zone of Avoidance are frequently detecting new distant and
nearby galaxies. Some galaxies consisting mostly of gas and dust
may also have evaded detection so far.
In January 2006, researchers reported that the heretofore
unexplained warp in the disk of the Milky Way has now been
mapped and found to be a ripple or vibration set up by the Large
and Small Magellanic Clouds as they circle the Galaxy, causing
vibrations at certain frequencies when they pass through its
edges. Previously, these two galaxies, at around 2% of the mass
of the Milky Way, were considered too small to influence the Milky
Way. However, by taking into account dark matter, the movement
of these two galaxies creates a wake that influences the larger
Milky Way. Taking dark matter into account results in an
approximately twentyfold increase in mass for the galaxy. This
calculation is according to a computer model made by Martin Weinberg of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In this model,
the dark matter is spreading out from the Galactic disk with the known gas layer. As a result, the model predicts that the
gravitational effect of the Magellanic Clouds is amplified as they pass through the Galaxy.
Current measurements suggest the Andromeda Galaxy is approaching us at 100 to 140 kilometers per second. The Milky Way
may collide with it in 3 to 4 billion years, depending on the importance of unknown lateral components to the galaxies’ relative
motion. If they collide, individual stars within the galaxies would not collide, but instead the two galaxies will merge to form a
single elliptical galaxy over the course of about a billion years.
 Etymology and mythology
In western culture the name “Milky Way” is derived from its appearance as a dim
un-resolved “milky” glowing band arching across the night sky. The term is a
translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, in turn derived from the Hellenistic
Greek γαλαξίας, short for γαλαξίας κύκλος (pr. galaktikos kyklos, “milky circle”).
The Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxias), from root γαλακτ-, γάλα (milk) + -ίας
(forming adjectives), is also the root of “galaxy”, the name for our, and later all
such, collections of stars. The Milky Way “milk circle” was just one of
11 circles the Greeks identified in the sky, others being the zodiac, the meridian,
the horizon, the equator, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and
Antarctic circles, and two colure circles passing through both poles.
There are many creation myths around the world which explain the origin of the
Milky Way and give it its name. In Greek myth, the Milky Way was caused by
milk spilt by Hera when suckling Heracles. It is also described as the road to
mount Olympus, and the path of ruin made by the chariot of the Sun god Helios.
In Sanskrit and several other Indo-Aryan languages, the Milky Way is
called Akash Ganga (आकाशगंगा, Ganges of the heavens); it is held to be sacred
in the Hindu Puranas (scriptures), and the Ganges and the Milky Way are
considered to be terrestrial and celestial analogs. Kshira (क्षीर, milk) is an
alternative name for the Milky Way in Hindu texts in Sanskrit.

‘Young’ black hole is nearby, NASA says; doorway to a new universe?

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is bearing down on Earth, rattling nerves and making sci-fi fans’ eyes light up. But the cool
science news doesn’t stop there. Researchers believe they may have spotted the youngest black hole in the Milky
Way galaxy, and — from scientists’ point of view – it’s not far away.

When it comes to black holes, it can be hard to differentiate the science from the science fiction. Remember
Nikodem Poplawski’s 2010 theory — that our universe is within a black hole — which is within another universe
altogether. That sounds like Disney’s 1979 film “The Black Hole.”
Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, recalls seeing the film in an essay on black holes,
saying the hole in the film provides “a passage from one universe to another.”  He goes on to say the
wormholes of science fiction provide an interstellar space-travel short-cut, a workaround to the “Einstein
speed limit.”
And this fascinating space phenomenon is relatively nearby, just  26,000 light-years away.  So,
astronomers plan to study it closely, NASA says.
The space agency, whose Chandra X-Ray Observatory provided data, says not only is the black hole
nearby and young,  at just 1,000 years (think like a scientist here), but it also was created in a very rare
way.
“It appears its parent star ended its life in a way that most others don’t,” said Laura Lopez in a news
release. Lopez led the study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The supernova explosion that occurred when this star ran out of fuel was “peculiar,” NASA said.  Oddities
included the way the star exploded — with “jets shooting away from the star’s poles” — making the
supernova elongated and elliptical.
Also surprising was what the supernova failed to leave behind.
There was no neutron star. The collapse of some massive stars leaves this dense, spinning core.  But not
this time.  Megan Watzke, press officer at NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, told the Los Angeles
Times on Wednesday that, indeed, it’s that lack of evidence that points to the existence of a black hole.
“In this case … the lack of pulsations from the other possible explanation (a rapidly rotating dense star
called a neutron star) add to the evidence that a black hole is there,” Watzke said.  “In other situations,
however, astronomers can detect the black hole’s presence by its influence on the material around it.”
The possible black hole and the reason behind it remain something of a mystery.
As Lopez says in a blog post, these “exotic explosions can happen within our own galaxy, and further study
… will give great insights into how these awesome events come about.”
The study and results of the Chandra observation on the possible black hole will appear in a paper in
Sunday’s Astrophysical Journal.

Planets
Views of the Solar System

Our Milkyway Galaxy

This image of our galaxy, the Milky Way, was taken with NASA's Cosmic
Background Explorer's (COBE) Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment
(DIRBE). This never-before-seen view shows the Milky Way from an edge-on
perspective with the galactic north pole at the top, the south pole at the bottom
and the galactic center at the center. The picture combines images obtained at
several near-infrared wavelengths. Stars within our galaxy are the dominant
source of light at these wavelengths. Even though our solar system is part of the Milky Way, the view
looks distant because most of the light comes from the population of stars that are closer to the galactic
center than our own Sun. (Courtesy NASA)

Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover

Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are
busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared
images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that
the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms
wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was
thought to possess four major arms.

This artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with
other findings presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting
in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy's two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and
Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms
(Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The major arms consist of
the highest densities of both young and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets
of star-forming activity.
The artist's concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered via a
radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major arms and lies along
the bar of the galaxy.
Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius
and Perseus arms. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4414

The majestic galaxy, NGC 4414, is located 60 million light-years away. Like
the Milky Way, NGC 4414 is a giant spiral-shaped disk of stars, with a
bulbous central hub of older yellow and red stars. The outer spiral arms are
considerably bluer due to ongoing formation of young, blue stars, the brightest
of which can be seen individually at the high resolution provided by the
Hubble camera. The arms are also very rich in clouds of interstellar dust, seen
as dark patches and streaks silhouetted against the starlight. (Courtesy
NASA/STSCI)

Obliquity of the Eight Planets

This illustration shows the obliquity of the
eight planets. Obliquity is the angle
between a planet's equatorial plane and its
orbital plane. By International
Astronomical Union (IAU) convention, a planet's north pole lies above the ecliptic plane. By this
convention, Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde rotation, or a rotation that is in the opposite
direction from the other planets. (Copyright 2008 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Solar System

During the past three decades a myriad of space explorers have escaped the
confines of planet Earth and have set out to discover our planetary neighbors.
This picture shows the Sun and all nine planets of the solar system as seen by the
space explorers. Starting at the top-left corner is the Sun followed by the planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
(Copyright 1998 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

Sun and Planets

This image shows the Sun and nine planets approximately to
scale. The order of these bodies are: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)

Jovian Planets
This image shows the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
approximately to scale. The Jovian planets are named because of their gigantic
Jupiter-like appearance. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Largest Moons and Smallest Planets

This image shows the relative sizes of the largest moons and the smallest planets
in the solarsystem. The largest satellites pictured in this image are: Ganymede
(5262 km), Titan (5150 km), Callisto (4806 km), Io (3642 km), the Moon (3476
km), Europa (3138 km), Triton (2706 km), and Titania (1580 km). Both
Ganymede and Titan are larger than planet Mercury followed by Io, the Moon,
Europa, and Triton which are larger than the planet Pluto. (Copyright Calvin J.
Hamilton)

Diagram of Portrait Frames

On February 14, 1990, the cameras of Voyager 1 pointed back toward the Sun
and took a series of pictures of the Sun and the planets, making the first ever
"portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. This image is a diagram of
how the frames for the solar system portrait were taken. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
All Frames from the Family Portrait
This image shows the series of pictures of the Sun and the planets taken on February 14, 1990, for the solar
system family portrait as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic consisting of a total of
60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from a
distance of approximately 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32°
above the ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the
planets of our solar system in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further
from the Sun than Earth. Our Sun is seen as the bright object in the center of the
circle of frames. The insets show the planets magnified many times. (Courtesy
NASA/JPL)

Portrait of the Solar System

These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever "portrait" of the solar system taken by
Voyager 1, which was more than 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth and about 32° above
the ecliptic. Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable
by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not
included in the mosaic because of its small size and distance from the Sun. These
blown-up images, left to right and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Sun and Planet Summary

The following table lists statistical information for the Sun and planets:
Distance Radius Mass Rotation # Moons Orbital Orbital Obliquity Density
(AU) (Earth's) (Earth's) (Earth's) Inclination Eccentricity (g/cm3)

Sun 0 109 332,800 25-36* 9 --- --- --- 1.410

Mercury 0.39 0.38 0.05 58.8 0 7 0.2056 0.1° 5.43

Venus 0.72 0.95 0.89 244 0 3.394 0.0068 177.4° 5.25

Earth 1.0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1 0.000 0.0167 23.45° 5.52

Mars 1.5 0.53 0.11 1.029 2 1.850 0.0934 25.19° 3.95

Jupiter 5.2 11 318 0.411 16 1.308 0.0483 3.12° 1.33

Saturn 9.5 9 95 0.428 18 2.488 0.0560 26.73° 0.69

Uranus 19.2 4 17 0.748 15 0.774 0.0461 97.86° 1.29

Neptune 30.1 4 17 0.802 8 1.774 0.0097 29.56° 1.64

Pluto 39.5 0.18 0.002 0.267 1 17.15 0.2482 119.6° 2.03

* The Sun's period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to 36 days at
the poles. Deep down, below the convective zone, everything appears to rotate with a period of 27 days.

The Solar System

Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets, asteroids, and
meteoroids; and the interplanetary medium. The Sun is the richest source of electromagnetic energy (mostly in the
form of heat and light) in the solar system. The Sun's nearest known stellar neighbor is a red dwarf star called
Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years away. The whole solar system, together with the local stars visible
on a clear night, orbits the center of our home galaxy, a spiral disk of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way. The
Milky Way has two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the southern hemisphere. They are
called the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the Andromeda
Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is 4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away. Our galaxy,
one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through intergalactic space.

The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the same
direction, in nearly circular orbits. When looking down from above the Sun's north pole, the planets orbit in
a counter-clockwise direction. The planets orbit the Sun in or near the same plane, called the ecliptic. Pluto
is a special case in that its orbit is the most highly inclined (18 degrees) and the most highly elliptical of all
the planets. Because of this, for part of its orbit, Pluto is closer to the Sun than is Neptune. The axis of
rotation for most of the planets is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic. The exceptions are Uranus and Pluto,
which are tipped on their sides.
Composition Of The Solar System
The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The planets, which condensed out of the same disk
of material that formed the Sun, contain only 0.135% of the mass of the solar system. Jupiter contains more than
twice the matter of all the other planets combined. Satellites of the planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and the
interplanetary medium constitute the remaining 0.015%. The following table is a list of the mass distribution within
our Solar System.

 Sun: 99.85%
 Planets: 0.135%
 Comets: 0.01% ?
 Satellites: 0.00005%
 Minor Planets: 0.0000002% ?
 Meteoroids: 0.0000001% ?
 Interplanetary Medium: 0.0000001% ?

Interplanetary Space
Nearly all the solar system by volume appears to be an empty void. Far from being nothingness, this vacuum of
"space" comprises the interplanetary medium. It includes various forms of energy and at least two material
components: interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. Interplanetary dust consists of microscopic solid particles.
Interplanetary gas is a tenuous flow of gas and charged particles, mostly protons and electrons -- plasma -- which
stream from the Sun, called the solar wind.

The solar wind can be measured by spacecraft, and it has a large effect on comet tails. It also has a
measurable effect on the motion of spacecraft. The speed of the solar wind is about 400 kilometers (250
miles) per second in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The point at which the solar wind meets the interstellar
medium, which is the "solar" wind from other stars, is called the heliopause. It is a boundary theorized to
be roughly circular or teardrop-shaped, marking the edge of the Sun's influence perhaps 100 AU from the
Sun. The space within the boundary of the heliopause, containing the Sun and solar system, is referred to as
the heliosphere.

The solar magnetic field extends outward into interplanetary space; it can be measured on Earth and by
spacecraft. The solar magnetic field is the dominating magnetic field throughout the interplanetary regions
of the solar system, except in the immediate environment of planets which have their own magnetic fields.
The Terrestrial Planets

The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They
are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth's. The planets, Venus, Earth, and
Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost none. The following diagram shows the approximate
distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun.

The Jovian Planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets, because they are all gigantic
compared with Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's. The Jovian planets are also referred to as the
gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid cores. The following diagram shows the
approximate distance of the Jovian planets to the Sun.
Milky Way Galaxy Territory Map (Updated)
EDIT 2014: I have updated the map to include the names of all Transpace Worlds, Primary Fortress Worlds, and
other worlds that are relevant to Rise. Black text with white outline are Transpace Worlds - civilized planets in
the same system as a Transpace. Black text with red outline are Fortress Worlds - planets that are highly
militarized and serve as a base of operations for the host civilization's military, as well as featuring significant
restaging and construction abilities.

For the most part, each Fortress World is the Primary one of the civilization in which it lies. For the Siions, both
Siionkagh and Tranis are Primary Fortress Worlds - Siionkagh protects Oriciid'kas, the capital of the whole CSA,
while Tranis protects Siionleh, the capital of the USN. Maasen is not a *Primary* Fortress World, but it is a
Fortress World that nonetheless features in Rise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I decided to update my old galaxy map fav.me/d2vbitz so that it more properly reflects my new ideas, as well
as the now-commonly-accepted idea that the Milky Way has primarily two arms, not four. [Edit: apparently we're
back to believing that the galaxy has four arms. Tch. Well I'm not changing this map again.] This map also has
an actual image of the Milky Way underneath, which I imagine makes it a bit easier to read.

If I ever bother to learn flash actionscript then I might make an interactive version of this map, which would be
much easier to read. Don't get your hopes up though.

Notes on the items presented in the map:

-The CSA is what the GTC was on the old map, just more cohesive. Instead of just trading with each other, the
members of the CSA have a single government at their head, that functions similarly to the UN but with more
power.

-The Spykes have been changed to the Syraus, and their Homeworld, Tryke, has been changed to Tyrnaus. The
new names seem less ridiculous while still staying with the r-s-t, x-y-z naming scheme I had for the Taizen
civilizations.

-Space Exploration, Reconnaissance, and Response Command (SERRCom) is the international organization set up
by Earth to control all matters extraterrestrial. They also have a diplomatic counterpart, the Department of
Earthian Diplomacy (DEDi).
-The Nimalians and Earthians actually hold territory in the new map.

-The Black Suns are an independent organization that function primarily as mercenaries, but also have branches
that delve into R&D and exploration. The Black Suns hold planets all over the galaxy, even within the territory of
the other civilizations (with the permission of the host civilization), but the Sector Hubs are where the primary
bases and command posts are.

-The Drakkar homeworlds have actual names now!

-Dead Space is space where no Chaos Energy is present, disallowing the use of all Chaos Energy-based
technology (including some of the more primitive FTL drives).