The Milky Way is a relatively thin, flattened disk. This explains why it appears as a band in our sky. When we are looking in the direction of the disk, Earthlings see the combined light of all the stars in the galaxy. When we look in a direction away from the disk, we see only the stars close to our solar system. Globular clusters are extremely luminous objects. Their mean luminosity is the equivalent of approximately 25,000 Suns. The most luminous are 50 times brighter. The masses of globular clusters, measured by determining the dispersion in the velocities of individual stars, range from a few thousand to more than 1,000,000 solar masses. The clusters are very large, with diameters measuring from 10 to as much as 300 light-years. Most globular clusters are highly concentrated at their centres, having stellar distributions that resemble isothermal gas spheres with a cutoff that corresponds to the tidal effects of the Galaxy. A precise model of star distribution within a cluster can be derived from stellar dynamics, which takes into account the kinds of orbits that stars have in the cluster, encounters between these member stars, and the effects of exterior influences. The American astronomer Ivan R. King, for instance, derived dynamical models that fit observed stellar distributions very closely. He finds that a cluster’s structure can be described in terms of two numbers: (1) the core radius, which measures the degree of concentration at the centre, and (2) the tidal radius, which measures the cutoff of star densities at the edge of the cluster.

The Crab Nebula, which was formed by a supernova explosion recorded in 1054. This image was made by combining two dozen exposures from the Hubble Space Telescope. (more)

The Great Debate

Milky Way Universe is an out-of-this-world festive selection box, the perfect gift for any chocolate lover this Christmas. The Milky Way and Friends medium selection box contains Milky Way Magic Stars, Milky Way Crispy Rolls, plus fun size Mars and M&M's Chocolate and two fun size bars of Milky Way.

Gullon sugar-free wholegrain breakfast biscuits – 3.5 syns each approx. Unofficial Slimming World syns list for spreads for toast for five syns or less Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Skimmed Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Sunflower Oil, Milk Fat, Lactose, Whey Permeate ( Milk), Barley Malt Extract, Salt, Emulsifier ( Soya Lecithin), Egg White Powder, Palm Fat, Starch, Milk Chocolate contains Milk Solids 14% minimum These objects are organizations of stars that share common measurable motions. Sometimes these do not form a noticeable cluster. This definition allows the term to be applied to a range of objects from the nearest gravitationally bound clusters to groups of widely spread stars with no apparent gravitational identity, which are discovered only by searching the catalogs for stars of common motion. Among the best known of the moving groups is the Hyades in the constellation Taurus. Also known as the Taurus moving cluster or the Taurus stream, this system comprises the relatively dense Hyades cluster along with a few very distant members. It contains a total of about 350 stars, including several white dwarfs. Its centre lies about 150 light-years away. Other notable moving stellar groups include the Ursa Major, Scorpius-Centaurus, and Pleiades groups. Besides these remote organizations, investigators have observed what appear to be groups of high-velocity stars near the Sun. One of these, called the Groombridge 1830 group, consists of a number of subdwarfs and the star RR Lyrae, after which the RR Lyrae variables were named.We livein the Milky Way Galaxy. If you were looking down on the Milky Way, it would look like a large pinwheel rotating in space. Our Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that formed approximately 14 billion years ago. Contained in the Milky Way are stars, clouds of dust and gas called nebulae, planets, and asteroids. Stars, dust, and gas fan out from the center of the Galaxy in long spiraling arms. The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter. Our solar system is 26,000 light-years from the center of the Galaxy. All objects in the Galaxy revolve around the Galaxy's center. It takes 250 million years for our Sun (and the Earth with it) to make one revolution around the center of the Milky Way. If you are allergic to certain kinds of food ingredients, you may be wondering what other allergens are present in Milky Ways. This is a commonly asked question, as there are many people who have to actively avoid certain ingredients. As you can see below there is a huge variety of flavours and you can enjoy them all within this allowance! The Halo Ice Cream calories range from 280kcal to 370kcal per tub.