The older stars migrated out from the galactic center, leaving the younger ones inside.

How far the Milky Way's disc extends has long been difficult to define — it doesn't end sharply, but fades away gradually at its outer edges. Now, for the first time, an international team of ...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins may be closing in on dark matter’s elusive trail, uncovering a mysterious gamma ray glow at the heart of our galaxy that could signal unseen matter colliding — or perhaps ...

A group of undergraduate students stumbled into a cosmic time capsule—one of the oldest stars ever discovered—while combing through massive astronomy datasets. What began as a class project quickly ...

A long, narrow filament of gas and dust has been identified within the Milky Way, stretching over 300 light-years while ...

It may be our galactic neighborhood, but it is not always easy to see. However, that is about to change. For the next several months, the iconic band of hazy light, known as the Milky Way, should ...

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy containing 100-400 billion stars. Planet Earth sits along one of the galaxy’s spiral arms. Though the Milky Way is generally always visible from Earth, certain times ...

"Milky Way season," when our galaxy's bright center is most visible, is now beginning in the Northern Hemisphere. The best time to see the Milky Way in the U.S. is generally from March to September.