What is the scientific name for the Milky Way?

Answer 1

The Milky Way is a faint white milky streak across the sky. The ancient astronomers called this streak the Milky Way. That is why our Galaxy is often called the Milky Way Galaxy.

Nobody is sure how the Milky Way got its strange name. The ancient Greeks had several stories about it. According to Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Jenny March, 2001: the mythological explanation for the origin of this smear was that the goddess Hera was tricked into suckling the baby Heracles, son of her husband Zeus by the beautiful mortal Alcmene. But when she discovered who the baby was she tore her breast from his mouth, and her milk spurted across the sky. You understand, of course, that the gods lived in the sky.

There was also another legend that the Milky Way was created when Phaethon, son of Helios (the Sun-god) set the heavens on fire with his father's sun-chariot.

Source: http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/milky2.html

Answer 2

The name Milky Way for the galaxy originated from the Greeks. At that time they thought the stars in the galaxy looked like drops of milk from breasts. An interesting fact related to this is that the word galaxy actually comes from the Greek word, galactos for milk!

It wasn't until Gallileo looked at an area of it with his telescope in the 1600s that it was realised that the Milky Way was made up of thousands of individual stars
Its named after the company that found it.

Milkyway as opposed to the way you spelt it which is incorrect.

Many people one thought the popular chocolate bar named after this galaxy for its milky look and texture when looked at thorugh a telescope, however this is incorrect.

In 1871 the Milkyway company sent a satalitte up an it took pictures of this galaxy so the company, to get there name out there.

Answer 3

If you mean part of the Messier Catalogue of names - like M31 for the Andromeda Galaxy or M101 for the Pinwheel Galaxy, then I'm afraid there is only one name - The Milky Way Galaxy.

We should be M1 but alas that is the Crab Nebula.

Answer 4

Around the time of ancient Greek. From my understanding, There was believed to be a Greek goddess that breast fed her baby. The baby was ripped from her arms while breast feeding. The milk then was spat out of the babies mouth and from the breast, forming the MILKY way.

That story was told by the greek because in the sky, on a really dark night and if theres no lights, you can the galaxy around us. It looks like a stream of milk in the sky.

Answer 5

it comes from the milkway galaxy in the solar system so they thought theyd make stars into chocoate