The Riddle of the Milky Way

In a dark clear moonless night, far away from city lights, one may see a starlight-full hazy belt which circles the sky. It divides the sky into two halves, passing through the constellations of Cassiopeia and Perseus and between Orion and the Twins. On the other side of Cassiopeia, the Swan and Eagle are in this celestial path with Sagittarius in the most spectacular southern portion. In many languages, it is called a “way,” for example, Milky Way in English which agrees with the Greek name galaktos, milk. In Finnish, it is the Bird’s Way, in Swedish Winter Street. It took the efforts of generations after generations of astronomers to find out what this nebulous belt is, staying fixed relative to the stars.