Today we’re talking about our galactic neighborhood: The Milky Way. It’s a disk galaxy, a collection of dust, gas, and hundreds of billions of stars, with the Sun located about halfway out from the center. The disk has grand spiral patterns, formed by the traffic jams of stars and nebulae, where stars are born. The central region is shaped like a bar and is mostly old, red stars. There’s also a halo surrounding us of old stars.

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Chapters:
Introduction: The Milky Way 00:00
What is the Milky Way Galaxy? 1:15
The Milky Way's Shape 2:18
Spiral Arms of the Milky Way 4:08
Mapping the Milky Way 7:15
Outer Halo of the Milky Way 9:09
Review 10:07
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PHOTOS/VIDEOS
Milky Way, Artist’s Drawing http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spi... [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
Joshua Tree http://deepskycolors.com/astro/2013/0... [credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo]
Milky Way Center Region Mosaic http://sguisard.astrosurf.com/Pagim/G... [credit: ESO]
New Hubble image of star cluster Messier 15 http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/... [credit: NASA, ESA]
Artist’s impression of the Milky Way http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/... [credit: ESA/Hubble and M. Kornmesser]
M83 (Hubble Only and Hubble-Subaru-ESO Composite) http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M8... [credit: Robert Gendler, 8.2 Meter Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), European Southern Observatories, Hubble Legacy Archive]
Hubble's Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arch... [credit: NASA, ESA, K. Kuntz (JHU), F. Bresolin (University of Hawaii), J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Lab), J. Mould (NOAO), Y.-H. Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana), and STScI]
NGC 3344 http://skycenter.arizona.edu/gallery/... [credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona]
Annotated Milky Way http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/wise/2... [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
Black hole with corona, X-ray source (artist's concept) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_h... [credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
A Galaxy and its Halo http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Imag... [credit: ESA (image by C. Carreau)]
How to Become a Star http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0... [credit: ESO]