I saw what at first seemed like a featureless band of light wafting across the constellations. But shielding my eyes from our neighbour's porch light, I detected a glittering texture. Out in the country, the Milky Way struck me with even greater force. The luminescent starstream cascaded from horizon to horizon. And I thought the view from my backyard was good.
Planet Earth represents our cosmic backyard.
It sits in an immense pinwheel-shaped star system called the Milky Way Galaxy. You can think of it as a city of stars, complete with downtown core and suburbs. We Earthlings reside in one of those starry suburbs near the edge of town. Don't expect a galactic bus system anytime soon. I first understood the concept of the galactic city all those years ago when I noticed the Milky Way broadening near the south horizon.