How Do We Know What the Milky Way Really Looks Like?

We have all seen images of the Milky way that look like there are taken at great distances from the outside but how do we know that is correct. The Voyager spacecraft have been travelling for 44 years but have only gone 0.002 light years from Earth and will take another 40,000 years to reach our nearest neighbouring star.
So in this video we look at how we know that the Milky way looks like on the outside from the inside.

Written, researched and presented by Paul Shillito
Images and footage : NASA, Sam Sciluna, Yuri Beletsky, Mehmet Ergün, Maksymilian Novak-Zemplinski

And as always a big thank you also goes out to all our Patreons :-)

Eριχθόνιος JL
Adriaan_von_Grobbe
Alipasha Sadri
Andrew SMITH
Brian Kelly
Cameron Elliot
Carl Soderstrom
Charles Thacker
ChasingSol
Citizen Battle
Collin Copfer
Daniel Davenport
Dom Riccobene
erik ahrsjo
Etienne Dechamps
Florian Muller
George Bishop II
Glenn Dickinson
Henning Bitsch
inunotaisho
james t early
Jesse Postier
Jim Early
Johan Rombaut
Jonathan
Jonathan Merage
Jonathan Travers
Ken Schwarz
L D
László Antal
Leifur Thor
Lorne Diebel
Mark Heslop
oldGhostbear
Paul Freed
Paul Gorlinsky
Paul Hilscher
Paul Shutler
Pu239
Samuel Finch
SHAMIR
stefan hufenbach
Steve J - LakeCountySpacePort
Thales of Miletus
Tim Alberstein
Tomasz Leszczyński
Vincent
Will Lowe

Music from the YouTube library
Drifting at 432Hz by Unicorn Heads

[kalui]

Thank you for not adding overbearing music or other unnecessary stimulation

[bibabanua]

Dear Paul,
i first found you in 2019. Since then i followed all of your Videos and wachted nearly all which came before.
Thank you for your and your Teams hard work, to bring us this top notch content.
These videos are treasures for me!

[brick]

Galaxies are massive beyond our understanding. If Andromeda were brighter, it'd appear 6 times larger than the moon despite being 2.5 million light years away. The Milky Way is 105, 000 light years wide... to send a radio signal from one side to another would take longer than our species has existed. It's really mind blowing and humbling.

[rayoflight]

I'm an astrophile - This is the best made overview I've seen here on YouTube, an extremely well made explainer of our Galaxy.
One little note. Last year some more precise measurements of the distance of our Solar System from the Galactic core, have shown the distance to be little shorter than what we previously thought, at 26, 000 light years.
Thank you Mr. Shiilito - it is always a pleasure when you publish a video...
Regards,
Anthony

[lucf]

So much love for this channel
From anti gravity, to military and nature, always being perfect ❤️

[baddestmofoalive]

Best content on YouTube, hands down. Keep up the good work!

[mathiassvensson]

Fun fact: In Sweden the milky way is called ”the winter street”

[natearts]

If any producers are watching this, Paul deserves to be a host of PBS Nova, or other major productions. He's an excellent presenter, a thorough researcher, and possesses the unique combination of kindness, intelligence, and humility that inspires people to wonder.

[svRx]

My favorite youtuber of all time. Thanks for posting again!

[mtkoslowski]

This is something I have wondered about for the last 40 years of my life. Thank you for this Sir.

[FinnKaiden]

I've always wondered how astronomers work how how far away a star is. So cool that its even possible to do so, let alone with such a simple method.

[naciremasti]

Paul, you're looking and sounding absolutely fabulous and that's all we really care about.

If only we could get an Event Horizion episode with you.

[Simonize]

Jeez, I love anything to do with space. Thanks Paul, yet another excellent video to enjoy and love. I hope you’re getting healthier and all is good after your ill health.

[theldun]

I asked this exact question just a while back. Glad some one finally got around to explaining it. Thank you!

[nickyoung]

Fascinating Paul, thank you. Hope you are well.

[Kingstallington]

3:50 Father ted always comes to mind whenever I hear some explaining this.
Small... Faraway....

[gubigm]

Great video as always!
One small mistake: at 3:22 in the title, Andromeda galaxy is M31, not M32.

[mimetype]

I seem to recall you were poorly, hope you're doing great and everything's on the up and up! Keep up the good work 👍

[qozmiq]

A big shout-out to square space! I wish you'd all realize we've heard these ads a zillion times.

[geoffreyrobson]

Where are we? At the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy!
Enough leverty. I really enjoy your content. Interesting, consise, educational well delivered plus more