14 Questions
What did astronomers only start to piece together in the early 1900s?
The true nature of our galaxy
How does the Milky Way galaxy appear to the naked eye from Earth's surface?
As a nebulous band across the sky
What has limited astronomers' understanding of the Milky Way?
Our limited vantage point
What is illustrated in the image credit provided in the text?
Our galaxy, the Milky Way seen obliquely
What did it take a lot of work to capture according to the text?
A sketch of the Milky Way
What is credited for capturing some truly stunning images of the Milky Way?
Our telescopes
Who was the first to discover the true nature of the Milky Way galaxy?
Galileo Galilei
What did Immanuel Kant correctly guess about the Milky Way in the mid-1700s?
It was a rotating disk of stars
Who discovered that the Andromeda nebula was, in fact, the Andromeda galaxy?
Edwin Hubble
What is the main mission of the Gaia spacecraft?
To catalog as many stars as possible
What is one of the challenges in directly mapping the Milky Way?
Presence of interstellar dust
What is the role of globular clusters in mapping the Milky Way?
Estimating the distance to the center of the Milky Way
What do we know about the spiral arms of the Milky Way?
They are denser than their surroundings
What does the text suggest about current maps of the Milky Way?
They are mostly conjecture and likely to change over time
Learn about how we came to understand the true nature of the Milky Way galaxy and how it looks like with insights from space experts. Explore the history and developments that led to our current knowledge about our galaxy.
Make Your Own Quizzes and Flashcards
Convert your notes into interactive study material.
Get started for free
