The Milky Way in the 2MASS infrared survey, similar to Hubble observations of the sky colour (near-infrared). Here, the visible stars are mostly bright giant stars. Credit: The Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/2mass_allskyatlas.jpg
The Leiden Uni students show there are 58 billion dwarf stars, of which 7% reside in the outer regions of our Galaxy. This result is the most comprehensive model ever for the distribution of these stars. The Milky Way has a prominent, relatively flat disc with closely spaced bright stars, and a halo, a sphere of stars with a much lower density around it. Astronomers assume that the halo is the remnant of the first galaxies that fused together to form our Galaxy.
To find out exactly what the Milky Way looks ...
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