Video Transcript
What is the name of the galaxy that
our solar system is in?
To begin, let’s recall that a
galaxy is a collection of millions or billions of stars. Our own solar system is located
within a spiral galaxy, which has a bright dense center and several arms that spiral
outwards from the center. Our solar system is located on one
of the galaxy’s spiral arms. From here on Earth, we can see
features of the galaxy in the night sky.
Throughout history, people have
noticed a bright band across the sky that appears cloudy or milky, and so it’s been
called the Milky Way. In the night sky, the Milky Way
looks like a bright cloud. Now, thanks to our understanding of
science, we know that it’s not a cloud. It’s actually a big collection of
billions of stars. This is the galaxy that our solar
system is in, and the name of the galaxy is the Milky Way.
