Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2025 May 12 [2]A dark field of space surrounds a thin but colorful band horizontally across the center. The band is nearly straight but curves at its outer edges. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Gaia Reconstructs a Side View of our Galaxy Illustration [3]Credit: [4]ESA, [5]Gaia, [6]DPAC, [7]Stefan Payne-Wardenaar Explanation: What does our [8]Milky Way Galaxy look like from the side? Because we are on the inside, humanity can’t get an actual picture. Recently, however, just such a map has been made using location data for over a billion stars from ESA’s [9]Gaia mission. The resulting [10]featured illustration shows that just like [11]many [12]other [13]spiral [14]galaxies, our Milky Way has a very thin central disk. [15]Our Sun and all the stars we see at night are in this disk. Although [16]hypothesized before, perhaps [17]more surprising is that the disk appears curved at the outer edges. The colors of our Galaxy's [18]warped central band derive mostly from dark [19]dust, [20]bright blue stars, and [21]red emission nebulas. Although data analysis is ongoing, [22]Gaia was deactivated in March after a successful mission. Explore Your Universe: [23]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: again from the top __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy, [41]Accessibility, [42]Notices; A service of: [43]ASD at [44]NASA / [45]GSFC, [46]NASA Science Activation & [47]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2505/MilkyWaySide_Gaia_5000.jpg 3. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia 6. https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac 7. https://bsky.app/profile/stefanpw.bsky.social 8. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft) 10. https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/01/The_best_Milky_Way_map_by_Gaia_edge-on 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240606.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220423.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170112.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141105.html 15. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/ 16. https://www.science.org/content/article/milky-way-more-warped-astronomers-thought 17. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eyebleach/comments/1cfcrpk/my_dog_is_very_surprised/#lightbox 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120304.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100322.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241209.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241104.html 22. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Farewell_Gaia!_Spacecraft_operations_come_to_an_end 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250511.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.com/feed.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250512 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250513.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 43. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 46. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 47. http://www.mtu.edu/