A density map of stars in our galaxy – the Milky Way – and of its neighbouring Magellanic Clouds, in an image from ESA’s Gaia satellite – click to enlarge [credit: ESA/Gaia – CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO image prepared by Edmund Serpell]Our home galaxy, the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy of approximately 200 to 400 billion stars.
Under good viewing conditions the plane of the milky way is visible as a band of light across the night sky.
