The Great Milky Way Galaxy
Our Astronomical Back Yard

Did you know you can see the Milky Way Galaxy with the naked eye?

Yes you can. Just look UP!

It looks like a long, narrow cloud across the night sky.

These pictures of the cartwheel galaxy were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, in December 1994.

Can you see how it got its name?

NGC3132 [image credit: R.Sahai, J.T.Trauger & R.W.Evans (JPL), the WFPC2 Science Team, & NASA]