Jonathan and Tauqir report on the Milky Way

Photoshopped image of Sydney Observatory by work experience student Tauqir. Images from various sources
The Milky Way is just one of many of the countless number of galaxies in what we call the universe. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of such things as stars, stellar remnants and interstellar medium [which in turn is] consisting of cloud and gas. Galaxies range from dwarfs which contain as few as ten million stars up to galaxies which can contain a hundred trillion stars, which all orbit the galax[y’s] centre of mass. Galaxies can contain many multiple star systems, star clusters and interstellar clouds. There are probably more than 170 billion galaxies in the visible universe.
Many different cultures have their own perception on how the galaxy was formed. Some [Australian] Indigenous peoples believed that the Milky Way was called the “Sky River” where the Rainbow Serpent lived. They also have many different perceptions on how the stars were created. For example, one story was that 3 brothers were out fishing on a canoe for tea, but could only catch kingfish. They were not allowed to catch these fish though, because they are part of the kingfish clan. One ...