This is our home, the massive barred spiral galaxy in which the Sun and all its planets reside. When you see it in the night sky, you are looking sideways through the galactic disk.

It appears as a fuzzy, hazy band of light that stretches across the heavens. That glow comes from the light of billions of stars packed densely together. The black patches within the band, known as dust lanes, are actually giant clouds of cosmic dust that block the starlight behind them.

The most spectacular part is the Galactic Core, the brightest, fattest region of the Milky Way. This core is visible in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius during the summer and early fall.

To see the Milky Way, you need to be in a location with very dark skies and ensure the Moon is not bright. It’s one of the few astronomical objects that is truly stunning when viewed with just your naked eye.