The Milky Way is Officially 'Snow White'

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Streak of meteor lights up the Milky way

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Scientists say the Milky Way is the color of snow.

According to a group of scientists at the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, the Milky Way is white. Actually, no, it has the same spectrum of light as a “spring snow at an hour after sunrise or before sunset,” as described on BBC News.

The scientists determined the color by looking at star types in other galaxies to find those that closely matched the Milky Way.

Milky Way’s Color is Important

The color of a galaxy is used to determine its age. Scientists can tell by the spectrum of light from the stars, by telling how old the stars are and how recently newer stars were formed.

The color and age had been previously hard to determine by astronomers because our solar system is located so far into the galaxy, so gas and other objects have obscured farther regions from view.

Speaking of galaxies, NASA researchers have discovered one 13.1 billion light-years away, using the Hubble Telescope. That's the farthest star-cluster known to human.

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The Milky Way Galaxy

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sourced by Emily Sutherlin

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