The "Milky Way" is a galaxy that is massively vast consisting of billions of suns, stars and planets. It is the galaxy that is the home of the planet Earth in the universe.
A very recent study was conducted by Mark Reid and his team from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics. With the use of 10 radio telescopes known as the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), they attempted to present a more detailed and accurate structure of the "Milky Way.
Several astronomical studies had been conducted since 1958 to determine the vastness, composition, structure and movements of the "Milky Way". It was Jan Ort, Frank Kerr and Gart Westerhout who made an initial study on the spiral nebula of the galaxy.
According to Atlas, the three had drawn the first map of the "Milky Way". However, they had only mapped the right side of the plane in the Northern Hemisphere.
The three scientists carried out their study in Australia and the Netherlands with the use of radio - telescopes. They initiated efforts in determining the density of the neutral hydrogen (HI) of the galaxy plane. It was found out that the plane is heightened in the spiral arms also known as the Orion Spur.
It was reported by Space that the "Milky Way" galaxy has an enormous number of these structures. Contrary to earlier measurements of researchers, the length of the Onion Spur of the "Milky Way" is two times longer than what was reported.
Another attempt to map the "Milky Way" was conducted by Yvonne and Yvon Georgelin in 1976. They two outlined the big HII regions or the nebulae of the ionized hydrogen. Their study resulted to the identification of the location of the spiral arms.