The Beatles. (Let It Be) (Cover By Andrew Ryan)

By Lefteris-Euclides Stefanou

A Galaxy is a complex constructed from millions of stars, gases and dust which hold together thanks to the power of gravity. In the 1920s Edwin Hubble, an astronomer, stated that our galaxy is just one of  countless galaxies in the universe- some of which are by far larger than ours.

Our galaxy is called  the Milky Way. It is of a spiral shape with two big arms. Our sοlar system is situated in the Orion constellation, in a smaller arm. The center of the galaxy is located 27 million light years away from our sun and it  probably consists of a huge black hole.

Since we are already  inside the  galaxy we cannot perceive it  as a spiral but as a foggy beam of white light in the night sky.

The word ‘galaxy’ was first used by the philosophers  Anaxagoras, Parmenides and Dimokritos.

There is an ancient Greek myth created  to explain our galaxy’s bright milky  appearance on the horizon..

According to the myth, while Hera was asleep, Jupiter brought the baby Herakles on mount Olympus to breastfeed on her milk and so become immortal. When Hera woke up and saw the unknown baby, she pushed him away and her divine milk that poured, scattered in the sky and that is how the galaxy was created.

The word galaxy originates from the Greek words γάλα=milk and κύκλος= cycle!

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SOURCES:

1. http://earthsky.org/space/does-our-sun-reside-in-a-spiral-arm-of-the-milky-way-galaxy

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

3. Γ.Μπαμπινιώτη,Ετυμολογικό Λεξικό της Ν.Ε.Γλώσσας,Β’ έκδοση,σελ.44