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5th century BC – Democritus proposes that the bright band in the night sky known as the Milky Way might consist of stars. 4th century BC – Aristotle believes the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which ...
The Milky Way [c] is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
The Milky Way started out small and grew in size as it merged with other galaxies, gaining stars as well as hydrogen to form more stars. Each galaxy has hydrogen gas that aids in the birth of stars.
Jacopo Tintoretto's The Origin of the Milky Way (c. 1575-1580) The Greek name for the Milky Way (Γαλαξίας Galaxias) is derived from the Greek word for milk (γάλα, gala). One legend explains how the Milky Way was created by Heracles (Roman Hercules) when he was a baby. [16]
The universe has appeared much the same as it does now, for many billions of years. It will continue to look similar for many more billions of years into the future. The galactic disk of the Milky Way is estimated to have been formed 8.8 ± 1.7 billion years ago but only the age of the Sun, 4.567 billion years, is known precisely. [81]
In 1920, the Great Debate between Harlow Shapley and Curtis took place, concerning the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the Universe. To support his claim that the Great Andromeda Nebula (M31) was an external galaxy, Curtis also noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds in this galaxy, as well ...
The distances place them far outside the Milky Way, and implies that fainter galaxies are much more distant, and the universe is composed of many thousands of galaxies. 1924 – Louis de Broglie asserts that moderately accelerated electrons must show an associated wave. [89] This was later confirmed by the Davisson–Germer experiment in 1927. [90]
Artist's conception of the Milky Way. Stellar archaeology is the study of the early history of the universe, based on its early composition. [1] By examining the chemical abundances of the earliest stars in the universe: metal-poor, Population II stars; insights are gained into their earlier, metal-free, Population III progenitors.