The Seven Wonders of the Milky Way

The Seven Wonders of the Milky Way
5 October 2014

The Seven Wonders of the Milky Way are:

  • The Sagittarius stream, a long, complex, structure made of stars that wrap in polar orbit around the Galaxy. It consists of tidally stripped stars from the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy.

  • The multi-planet planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR 1257+12.

  • The Pillars of Creation structures of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, some 7,000 light years from Earth. The pillars are composed of cool molecular hydrogen and dust that are being eroded by photo evaporation.

  • SM0313, the Oldest star in the known universe, just 6,000 light years away, it was born 13.6 billion years ago.

  • The biggest star in the Milky Way, VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa), a red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. It is approximately 1,420 ± 120 solar radii (equal to a diameter of 13.2 astronomical units, or about 1,976,640,000 kilometres).

  • The Galactic Bar of the Milky Way a complex and elongated structure at the centre of our galaxy.

  • Earth