The band that looks like milk in the night sky isn't actually milk, of course-it's a galaxy. A galaxy is a huge cluster of stars
, dust, gas, and other objects bound together in space. Our Solar System, which includes the sun, Earth, and other planets, is part of the Milky Way galaxy The Milky Way is about 14 billion years old Almost 10
billion years older than our Solar System!
It took many years to discover the Milky Way. In the early 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to show that Earth was an object orbiting the Sun. Ir the early
1600s, Galileo Galilei used a basic telescope to show that the Milky Way was made up of countless stars. Then, in the late 1700s, William Herschel tried to map out the
shape of the Milky Way. He did not realize that large portions of the galaxy were hidden by gas and dust, so he could not identify the true shape Edwin Hubble had
access to many powerful telescopes and tools to observe more objects in space. His work provided evidence that the Milky Way was only one of many galaxies in the
universe. He also identifies the spiral shape of our galaxy
Select a detail from the text that supports the idea that Nicolaus Copernicus's discoveries needed to occur before the Milky Way could be discovered
Edwin Hubble had access to many powerful telescopes and tools to observe more objects in space
in the early 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to show that Earth was an object orbiting the sun
In the early 1600s, Galileo Galile used a basic telescope to show that the Milky Way was made up of countless stars
wam Herschel did not realze that large portions of the galaxy were nidden by gas and dust so he could not deny the true shape
