Lactee and Jupiter - Milky way and Jupiter - The Lactee Way accompanied by Jupiter,...

Lactee and Jupiter - Milky way and Jupiter - The Lactee Way accompanied by Jupiter, the bright planet on the left, seen from Cherry Springs State Park in the United States. The center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, sets in the southwest as night begins at the Cherry Springs State Park, one of the darkest observing locations in the eastern United States. The Milky Way is a vast collection of more than 200 billion stars, planets, nebulae, clusters, dust and gas. Our own Sun and solar system are also part of the Milky Way galaxy. Seen as a luminous band of light and star clouds that stretch across the night sky, the brighter star clouds of the Milky Way are frequently mistaken for real Earth-bound clouds by observers who are unfamiliar with their appearance. Sometimes interrupted by dark nebulae and rifts, these star clouds are actually innumerable unresolved faint stars. The central bulge of the Milky Way, the brightest and most spectacular portion, is visible here in the Sagittarius region, seen at the lower left. Numerous dark nebula, clouds of non-luminous dust that obscure the stars behind them, are also part of the Milky Way and are scattered throughout the image. Brilliant Jupiter is the brightest “” star”” in the image, seen at left