Has anyone made a map of the Milky Way?

Is there any sort of map of the Milky Way galaxy, at least one compiled with any sort of accuracy?

If you mean a picture of what the Milky Way would look like if we could see it with the disk face-on, then this site has what you're looking for.

But I should warn you that:

1) This is just an artist's conception, because the fact that we're inside the Milky Way means that we can't see what it looks like from the outside. But this is based on observations of what we can see from our vantage point.

2) As described in the accompanying text, the part of the picture that covers the far side of the Milky Way is highly speculative, as we can't see much on the opposite end of the disk.

November 2003, Christopher Springob (more by Christopher Springob) (Like this Answer)

Still Curious?

Get More 'Curious?' with Our New PODCAST:

Related questions:

How can we see the Milky Way if we are inside it?

More questions about The Milky Way: Previous | Next

How to ask a question:

If you have a follow-up question concerning the above subject, submit it here. If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on our site menu, or go here for help.

URL: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=587
This page has been accessed 27334 times since November 16, 2003.
Last modified: November 16, 2003 1:26:32 PM

Legal questions? See our copyright, disclaimer and privacy policy.
Ask an Astronomer is hosted by the Astronomy Department at Cornell University and is produced with PHP and MySQL.