The same goes for the galaxy you live in, the Milky Way. Our celestial home is an awe-inspiring place full of stars, supernovas, nebulas, energy and dark matter, but many aspects of it remain. This illustration shows gas rising and falling in and out of the Milky Way galaxy using Hubble's COS instrument. With 10 years of data from COS, astronomers have found that there is more gas.

1. Milky Way Galaxy Position
2. Milky Way's
3. Milky Way Galaxy Activities
4. Milky Way And Surrounding Galaxies

Milky Way Galaxy Position

Milky Way's

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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.

The annotated artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way. 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.

Milky Way Galaxy Activities

Milky Way And Surrounding Galaxies

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.