A Wonderleaf question
What is the Milky Way?
a real page from the book
The Milky Way is our home galaxy: a huge, turning system of stars, gas, dust, planets, and gravity. Earth is inside it, orbiting one ordinary star called the Sun, so the pale band people see on dark nights is our own galaxy seen from within.
Its disk is so wide that light needs about 100,000 years to cross it. Near the centre sits Sagittarius A , a massive black hole, while out in one spiral arm, our solar system takes hundreds of millions of years to circle around.
Wonder words
- galaxy
- gravity
- orbit
- supernova
Try it out
On a dark evening, turn off indoor lights and look for the densest bright band or starry path overhead.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookOne more wonder: Why is space so dark?
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