MILKY WAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Milky Way mean? 

• MILKY WAY (noun)
  The noun MILKY WAY has 1 sense:

1. the galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky

  Familiarity information: MILKY WAY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MILKY WAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Milky Way; Milky Way Galaxy; Milky Way System

Hypernyms ("Milky Way" is a kind of...):

extragalactic nebula; galaxy ((astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust)

Meronyms (parts of "Milky Way"):

heliosphere (the region inside the heliopause containing the sun and solar system)

Meronyms (members of "Milky Way"):

Crux; Crux Australis; Southern Cross (a small conspicuous constellation in the southern hemisphere in the Milky Way near Centaurus)

 Context examples 

Understanding the physics of these violent events allows scientists to better understand how the seeds of chemical complexity and life itself have been scattered in space and time in our Milky Way galaxy.

(Kepler Catches Early Flash of an Exploding Star, NASA)

Sparky produced roughly 300 stars per year, compared to the 10 stars per year produced by our Milky Way.

(Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy, NASA)

Astronomers have observed the largest X-ray flare ever detected from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

(NASA’s Chandra Detects Record-Breaking Outburst from Milky Way’s Black Hole, NASA)

Perseus is the same cluster where astronomers discovered sound waves with a note of B-flat 57 octaves below middle-C plus a giant wave about twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy.

(Scientists Surprised by Relentless Cosmic Cold Front, NASA)

At its peak, a supernova can outshine the entire Milky Way.

(Evidence for supernovas near Earth, NASA)

The star is classified as an M dwarf, or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

(Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone', NASA)

Scientists looked at two systems in the Milky Way called "X-ray binaries," each consisting of a black hole feeding off of a normal star.

(NuSTAR Probes Black Hole Jet Mystery, NASA)

Researchers have used sophisticated models to estimate the mass of the Milky Way to be 890 billion times that of our sun.

(Researchers Estimate Mass of Milky Way to Be 3.9 Tredecillion Pounds, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This region of the Milky Way houses a huge cloud of star-making material.

(VST Captures Three-In-One, ESO)

The dark matter concentrations detected by Hubble are 1/10,000th to 1/100,000th times the mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)