Njia Nyeupe

Hali halisi hii ni jinsi tunavyoona galaksi yetu ambamo mfumo wa Jua letu pamoja na Dunia ni sehemu zake.

Galaksi yetu imekadiriwa kuwa na nyota zaidi ya bilioni 100 hadi bilioni 400. Inafanana na kisahani chenye umbo la parafujo. Kipenyo cha kisahani hicho ni miakanuru 100,000 ikiwa na unene wa miakanuru 3,000.

Galaksi iliyo karibu zaidi angani inaitwa Andromeda ikiwa na umbali wa miakanuru milioni 2.5.

Isipokuwa sayari za Jua letu na galaksi ya Andromeda (inayoonekana kama nyota moja), nyota zote ni kama Jua letu yaani tufe kubwa sana la gesi joto.

Nyota karibu zote tunazoziona kwa macho yetu ni sehemu za Njia Nyeupe. Kutegemeana na kiwango cha giza tunaweza kuona kati ya nyota 3,000 hadi 6,000 bila msaada wa darubini.

Si rahisi kuona nyota nyingi tukiwa mjini kwa sababu mwanga wa taa za mjini unaakisiwa katika angahewa na kuzuia kuona mianga hafifu nje ya angahewa.

Idadi kubwa zaidi ya nyota za Njia Nyeupe hatuwezi kuona wala kubainisha, kwa hiyo zinatokea machoni kama ukungu mweupe tu.

Uwezo wetu wa kuona nyota nyingi zaidi umepunguzwa na kuwepo kwa mavumbi ya kinyota kati ya mahali petu na kitovu cha galaksi.

Galaksi yetu ina umbo la parafujo (spirali) ya kisahani. Mahali petu pamoja na Jua pako kando kiasi ndani ya uwiano wa kisahani hiki. Tuko takriban 2/3 ya umbali wa kipenyo kutoka kitovu cha kisahani.

Ikitazamwa kutoka juu galaksi yetu ina umbo la parafujo yenye mikono mbalimbali. Picha hii tumeipata kutokana na kuangalia galaksi za mbali angani zinazoonekana kutoka juu ilhali parafujo inaonekana.

• Thorsten Dambeck in Sky and Telescope, "Gaia's Mission to the Milky Way", Machi 2008, p. 36–39.
• Cristina Chiappini, The Formation and Evolution of the Milky Way, American Scientist, November/December 2001, pp. 506-515

 

Wiki Commons ina media kuhusu:

Njia Nyeupe

• The Milky Way Galaxy from An Atlas of the Universe
• Basic Milky Way plan map, including spiral arms and the Orion spur
• A 3D map of the Milky Way Galaxy
• Chromoscope Tools to Explore the known Milky Way
• Milky Way – IRAS (infrared) survey Archived 29 Agosti 2016 at the Wayback Machine. wikisky.org
• Milky Way – H-Alpha survey Archived 29 Julai 2017 at the Wayback Machine. wikisky.org
• Interactive full screen Silverlight map of the Milky Way^{[dead link]}
• Running Rings Around the Galaxy Archived 13 Juni 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Spitzer Space Telescope News
• The Milky Way GalaxyArchived 9 Agosti 2011 at the Wayback Machine., SEDS Messier pages
• MultiWavelength Milky Way Archived 17 Februari 2009 at the Wayback Machine., NASA site with images and VRML models
• Milky Way Explorer, detailed images in infrared with radio, microwave and hydrogen-alpha as well
• The Milky Way at the Astro-Photography Site Of Mister T. Yoshida.
• Widefield Image of the Summer Milky Way
• Proposed Ring around the Milky Way
• Milky Way spiral gets an extra arm, New Scientist.com
• Possible New Milky Way Spiral Arm^{[dead link]}, Sky and Telescope.com
• The Milky Way spiral arms and a possible climate connection
• Galactic center mosaic via sun-orbiting Spitzer infrared telescope Archived 9 Mei 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
• Milky Way Plan ViewsArchived 19 Desemba 2013 at the Wayback Machine., The University of Calgary Radio Astronomy Laboratory
• Our Growing, Breathing Galaxy, Scientific American Magazine (Januari 2004 Issue)
• Deriving The Shape Of The Galactic Stellar Disc Archived 14 Januari 2009 at the Wayback Machine., SkyNightly (17 Machi 2006)
• Digital Sky LLC Archived 8 Desemba 2016 at the Wayback Machine., Digital Sky's Milky Way Panorama and other images
• A new view of the Milky Way galaxy Archived 5 Machi 2008 at the Wayback Machine. obtained by the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) on NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE).
• Image of Milky Way galaxy arms, Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
• The 1920 Shapley – Curtis Debate on the size of the Milky Way
• Milky Way Voyage – India's First & Largest Star Party Archived 12 Julai 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
• Astronomy Picture of the Day:
  • Composite image of the Milky Way
  • Milky Way image with highlights
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  • Milky Way Molecule Map
  • The Milky Way's Gamma-Ray Halo
• Moving Milkyway seen from Teneriffe without any lightpollution
• Multi-Gigapixel Infrared Milky Way A zoomable, annotated version of the Spitzer Space Telescope GLIMPSE survey.
• Animated tour of the Milky Way Archived 18 Januari 2010 at the Wayback Machine., University of Glamorgan