We have a lot of crazy informal names for space sights. Sometimes they’re named after how they are shaped, like the Horsehead Nebula. Sometimes they have a name “borrowed” from their constellation, such as the Andromeda Galaxy. But what about our own galaxy, the Milky Way? Why does this band of stars across Earth’s sky have a name associated with food?
First, let’s back up a bit and talk a bit about what the Milky Way actually is. Astronomers believe it is a barred spiral galaxy — a galaxy with a spiral shape that has a line of stars across its middle, as you can see in the picture above. If you were to fly across the galaxy at the speed of light, it would take you an astounding 100,000 years.
The Milky Way is part of a collection of galaxies called the Local Group. We’re on a collision course with the most massive and largest member of that collection, which is the Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31). The Milky Way is the second-largest galaxy, and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) the third-largest. There are roughly 30 members of this group all told.
