Why is the solar system also called the milky way?

Answer 1

The Solar System and the Milky Way are two different astronomic objects.

The Solar System, is our Sun (Solar) and it collection of nine planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, together with their associated satellites(Moons), and localised comets, such as Halley's Comet.

The whole of this system is contained in one of the 'curved' tails of our Galaxy, named the Milky Way.

The Milky Way is so large that it contains millions of stars and probably millions of planets associated with those stars. The nearest star to the Sun is 'alpha/proxima' centauri, which is 4.3 light years away. This star is also contained in the Milky Way. The word 'proxima'' is Latin and means nearest.

The Milky Way Galaxy is shaped like a giant Catherine Wheel Correctly described as Barred Spiral Galaxy. It contains 400,000,000,000 (400 billion stars). It is some 87,400 light years across. Most of the constellations seen in the night sky are in the Milky Way Galaxy. There is a core of stars etc., and two curved tails. Our Solar System is contained in one of the curved tails. Like the planets in the Solar System revolve round the Sun, the Milky Way Galaxy also revolves. It takes 212 million years to make one rotation of the Milky Way.

There are millions of other galaxies in the universe, which to the naked eye appear to be stars

The Solar System appears to be very large, but compared to the Milky Way it is miniscule. We are only a dot point in the whole.

Hope that helps you to distinguish the Solar system from the Milky Way Galaxy.

Answer 2

The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy, not our solar system. Our solar system is just one small part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is named after the milky appearance of its light when viewed from Earth.

Answer 3

Well. The solar system from Mercury to Pluto is 32 years across. The solar system is full of stars and planets and it has the sun that also is a star that will burn into a red giant in just 4.5 billion years! and gobble up Mercury, venus and earth. The milky way is full of stars and is the main source for stars in our galaxy. About 100,000 light years away. (186,000 Miles Per Second) (670,000,000 Miles Per Hour) A light year is traveling at 186,000 miles per second or 670,000,000 Miles per hour for a whole year. except we don't have the right things yet to travel at light speed.

More simply put.. our solar system includes our sun and 8 planets.. This solar system resides in the Milky Way galaxy which is waaaaaay larger!

Answer 4

We can't see the spiral shape of the Milky Way because we're inside the galaxy. Also, there is so much dust that our view of the galaxy is extremely limited. All we can see from earth are a couple of the Milky Way's arms.

Answer 5

It isn't. The Solar System is the name of our solar system. The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy.

Just in case you don't know, the difference between a solar system and a galaxy is that a solar system is a star and a group of planets and other objects. A Galaxy is a grouping of stars and solar systems.

Answer 6

The Milky Way is not a part of the solar system; rather, the solar system is part of the milky way. The milky way is like a bolt in an airplane - the airplane is not part of the bolt, but the bolt is part of the plane. There are millions of solar systems within the milky way.

Answer 7

Because quite simply, we are within it.

If we were out side of our Galaxy, then we could "see" the spiral shape.

But don't expect to see it for a longgggg time. It's over 25,000 light years to the edge and a lot further if you want to see it, in it's entirety. All images are artists impressions.

Answer 8

We are smaller than a speck relative to the galaxy itself. Not every planetary system in the galaxy is oriented in the same way. The Milky Way appears as it does because of the inclination of earth's equatorial plane (celestial equator) to the galactic plane. We are near the galactic plane, but it would be stranger than strange if every planet in the galaxy had its equatorial plane or ecliptic right on the galactic plane.

Answer 9

It's all because of gravity. Gravity is the only force that is present in any body with mass, and can act over long distances. It is also the only force that we have observed so far to completely destroy the travel at the speed of light. The Milky way is a galaxy, and is somewhere around 60 quadrillion (6 with 19 zeros!) miles in diameter. The layout of it is that it has several circular/elliptical arcs emerging from the center so that is looks like a whirlpool. It spins too! At the center, there is theorized to be a supermassive black hole which commands awesome gravitational power.

Now lets look at the similarities between the solar system and the milky way. However, before we start I would like to make one thing clear, as did the last answerer. The Solar System is situated in the Milky Way. And it's only 24 trillion miles in diameter (18 billion if you only count planetary orbits).

So onto the similarities. You may have noticed both the Milky way and the Solar System have a large body with gravitational powers at its center. You may also have noticed I repeatedly used the word diameter, implying circular shape. You may ALSO have made the connection between spinning as in planetary orbits, and the milky way "spinning", which incidentally, is a childish representation of stellar orbits in the Galaxy. Since you know the Sun's gravity keeps the Earth in orbit and inside the solar system, I think you would draw the conclusion that the Milky way's gravity (and centripetal force) keeps the Solar System inside it.

Answer 10

The Milky Way is a galaxy. Globular clusters are very old and tight clusters of stars. Globular clusters are much smaller than galaxies, and therefore are usually found within galaxies, orbiting the center just as every other star in the galaxy does. There are, however, sometimes very odd globular clusters that orbit the center of a galaxy great distances outside of the main visible part of a galaxy in what is called the Halo of the galaxy.