The Marvelous Milky Way

Source: Freepik

The Milky Way, an unusual name for something that is as integral to all of life, space, and history as we know it. As its name derives from the description of lights, stars, dust, and clouds in the night sky. 

The Milky Way began its journey approximately 13.6 billion years ago, its total volume spans over millions of light years. How big is a light year? You may ask. Well, it’s in the name. The distance light travels in a year. For reference, the speed of light is three hundred miles per second, doing the math it is clear that a light year is pretty long, but nothing compared to the Milky Way. 

Interestingly, at the center of the galaxy, lies one of the most massive black holes ever recorded: Sagittarius A*. This is over four million times the mass of our sun and is one of the main reasons that the Milky Way is considered one of the most beautiful views in space. The journey that the Milky Way had from 13.6 billion years ago to the present day is truly remarkable. 

Around two hundred-fifty million years from birth, the Milky Way began forming through clouds and dark matter. Approximately 2.8 billion years from birth, there was a speculated collision between the Milky Way and the Kraken Galaxy, which is largely considered to be the greatest galactic collision ever theorized. Approximately 4.8 billion years from birth, the Milky Way formed with another galaxy called the Gaia-Enceladus Galaxy. 

Approximately 9.3 billion years from birth, it is speculated that the solar system began its journey forming from gas and dust clouds. Now, to present day the Milky Way is a combination of planets, dust, and stars all formed in a barred spiral to represent our galaxy’s history as we theorize it to be through observation. 

Though the Milky Way’s journey is not done, there is further observation that it could merge with another galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy. This is larger than any other galaxy the Milky Way encountered including itself. Through the attraction of gravity, both will collide and form a new galaxy entirely, which could end the Milky Way era, the Solar System, and life forever. 

However, this is speculated to occur in approximately 4.5 billion years from now, in which life may already be extinct. Though knowing about the Milky Way and its journey over the years is truly fascinating through collisions and dust, it has housed the history of life to which we know.

References

Pultarova, T., & Dobrijevic, D. (2022, September 29). Milky way galaxy: Everything you need to know about our cosmic neighborhood. Space.com. http://www.space.com/19915-milky-way-galaxy.html