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Ep219: Milky Way Galaxy · Kidcast Daily

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  Spin the wheel, let's take a ride.
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  Sports and science bursting from inside a world of wonder.
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  Open wide. Come on kids, let's amplify kid
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  cats. Daily starts yours.
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  Welcome to Kick Ass Daily, where we bring news, trivia, fun
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  facts, and more just for curious kids like you.
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  Today's episode is all about something super cool that every
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  single person on Earth is a part of, even though most of us never
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  really notice it. We're talking about our home
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  Galaxy, the Milky Way. Buckle up, because we're about
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  to take an amazing journey through outer space.
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  No spaceship required. Let's start with the basics.
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  When you look up at the night sky, what do you see?
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  You probably noticed the moon, some twinkling stars, maybe even
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  a planet or two if you're lucky. But have you ever wondered what
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  all those stars are a part of? The answer is the Milky Way
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  Galaxy, and it's much, much bigger than you can imagine.
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  So what exactly is a Galaxy? A Galaxy is a huge collection of
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  stars, gas, dust, and planets all held together by gravity.
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  Galaxies come in different shapes and sizes.
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  Some are small and round, and others are huge and have spiral
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  arms. The Milky Way is a spiral
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  Galaxy, which means it looks kind of like a giant pinwheel
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  with arms that swirl out from the center.
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  The Milky Way is our home Galaxy.
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  That means our solar system, with the sun, Earth and all the
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  other planets lives inside the Milky Way, but we're just a tiny
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  part of it. Scientists think the Milky Way
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  has about 100 billion stars. That's a number so big it's hard
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  to imagine. If you try to count every star
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  in the Milky Way, counting one star per second, it would take
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  you over 3000 years to finish. Now let's talk about size.
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  The Milky Way is enormous. From one edge to the other, it's
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  about 100,000 light years across.
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  A light year is the distance light travels in one year, and
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  light is the fastest thing in the universe.
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  Light can travel around the Earth more than seven times in
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  just one second. So if you wanted to travel
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  across the Milky Way at the speed of light, it would still
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  take you 100,000 years. That's way longer than even the
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  oldest trees on Earth have been alive.
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  Did you know that when you see the Milky Way stretched like a
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  Milky band across the night sky, you're actually looking at the
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  part of our Galaxy where the stars are packed together?
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  People have been seeing this band for thousands of years.
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  Long ago, people who didn't have telescopes made-up stories about
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  what it was. Today we know it's our view of
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  the dense center of our Galaxy. Let's zoom in a bit and talk
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  about where our solar system is in the Milky Way.
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  We don't live near the center. Our solar system is about 27,000
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  light years away from the center of the Galaxy.
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  That's about halfway out from the middle.
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  Imagine the Milky Way is like a giant spinning disc.
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  The center is very crowded with stars, gas, and even a
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  supermassive black hole. That's right, there's a black
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  hole at the center of the Milky Way, and it's called
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  Sagittarius, a star. Don't worry, it's very, very far
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  away from us and doesn't affect our solar system.
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  The Milky Way spins, but not like a spinning top on a table.
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  It takes a long time to make one complete turn.
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  Our solar system orbits around the center of the Milky Way.
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  One full trip around the Galaxy takes about 230 million years.
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  That means the last time our solar system was in this same
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  spot in the Galaxy, dinosaurs were walking on Earth.
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  Here's a fun fact, our Galaxy isn't alone in space.
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  There are billions of other galaxies out there.
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  The Milky Way is part of a group of galaxies called the Local
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  Group. The closest big Galaxy to us is
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  the Andromeda Galaxy. It's about 2.5 million light
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  years away. If you had super powered eyes
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  and could see really far, you could spot Andromeda in the
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  night sky without a telescope. In a few billion years, the
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  Milky Way and Andromeda will actually get closer and might
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  even mix together to form a new, larger Galaxy.
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  Let's talk about what the Milky Way is made of.
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  Most people think of stars when they think of galaxies, but
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  there's more to it than that. The Milky Way also has giant
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  clouds of gas and dust. New stars are born in these
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  clouds, and old stars eventually explode and send their material
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  back out into space. This helps make new stars and
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  planets. So in a way, the Milky Way is
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  always changing and growing. Did you know that the Sun is
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  just an ordinary star among billions in the Milky Way?
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  Some stars are bigger, some are smaller, and some have planets
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  orbiting around them, just like our solar system.
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  Astronomers have found thousands of these other planets, which
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  are called exoplanets. Some of them might even have the
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  right conditions for life. Now let's talk about how
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  scientists study the Milky Way. We can't leave our solar system
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  to take a picture from the outside, so astronomers use
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  powerful telescopes to look at different parts of our Galaxy.
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  They use telescopes that collect visible light, but also radio
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  waves, infrared, and X-rays. This helps them see things that
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  our eyes can't see, like the massive clouds of gas or the
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  black hole at the center. Have you ever heard of the
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  Hubble Space Telescope? It's a telescope that orbits
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  above Earth and takes amazing pictures of space, including
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  parts of our Milky Way. Thanks to telescopes like
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  Hubble, we've learned so much about our Galaxy and others.
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  Here's another interesting fact, the Milky Way isn't standing
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  still. It's moving through space, and
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  so is everything in it. Our entire Galaxy is traveling
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  at hundreds of kilometers per second.
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  That means even though you feel like you're sitting still right
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  now, you're actually zooming through space along with the
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  Earth, the Sun, and all the stars in our Galaxy.
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  You might be wondering how the Milky Way got its name.
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  The name comes from the way the Galaxy looks in the sky, a Milky
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  glowing path. The word Milky Way comes from
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  the Latin via Lactia, which means Milky Rd.
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  Many cultures around the world have their own names for the
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  Milky Way, often inspired by its bright, cloudy appearance.
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  Let's do a quick review of what we learned today.
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  The Milky Way is our home Galaxy.
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  It's a giant spiral shaped collection of about 100 billion
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  stars, including our Sun. Our solar system is about
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  halfway from the center of the Galaxy, and it takes about 230
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  million years to go all the way around.
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  There's a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky
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  Way, but it's very far away from us and doesn't affect our solar
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  system. The Milky Way is made of stars,
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  gas, dust, and other objects, and it's always changing as new
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  stars are born and old ones die. There are billions of other
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  galaxies in the universe, and the Milky Way is just one of
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  them. Scientists use telescopes to
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  study our Galaxy and learn more about it every day.
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  Before we finish, here are a few more fun facts about the Milky.
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  If you look at the night sky from a very dark place far away
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  from city lights, you can see the Milky Way as a glowing band
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  stretching across the sky. Astronauts on the International
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  Space Station can also see the Milky Way from space, and they
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  say it's an amazing sight. The oldest stars in the Milky
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  Way are about 13 billion years old, which is almost as old as
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  the universe itself. And finally, every atom in your
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  body was once part of a star. That means you're made of the
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  same stuff as the stars in the Milky Way.
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  Thanks for joining us on Kick Ass Daily today to explore our
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  home Galaxy, the Milky Way. The universe is a big place and
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  there's always more to learn. Keep looking up at the night
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  sky, stay curious, and remember there's a whole Galaxy out there
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  waiting for you to discover. See you next time.
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  Grab your breakfast feeling fine adventure.