The Milky Way and Beyond
written by Mrs. Naylor
When you look up at the sky on a clear night you will see about 5,000 stars. Across the center of the sky you may notice a broad band of stars that almost looks like a cloud. You are really looking at one of the arms of the spiral galaxy known as the Milky Way Galaxy. These stars are so far away, they seem to blur together to the unaided eye. Our sun is but one of billions of stars that make up our galaxy. There are thousands of galaxies in the universe—each containing billions of stars. If you could count all the grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth, that number would be less than the number of stars in the universe.
Fifth grade science students wrapped up their study of the Earth, Moon, and Stars by creating models of the Milky Way Galaxy. They applied glue to black paper in a spiral shape. Then they sprinkled sand onto the glue. Each grain of sand was meant to represent a star.
