The Milky Way

Dr. Julius Strangepork

Pino, Tommie, and Ienie observe the Milky Way.

The Milky Way, a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. Although the Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe, its special significance to humanity is that it is the home galaxy of our Solar System. The plane of the Milky Way galaxy is visible from Earth as a band of light in the night sky, and it is the appearance of this band of light which has inspired the name for our galaxy.

References

• The interview with Wil Wheaton (familiar with space travel as Ensign Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) in the Spring 1988 issue of Muppet Magazine opens with a photo of Dr. Julius Strangepork, in his Pigs in Space uniform, pointing to Earth's location on an illustration of the Milky Way. The Swinetrek is depicted in the center, which is home to a supermassive black hole.

• In 1992, the Amsterdam Artis Planetarium created a Sesamstraat movie, Sesamstraat en Melkweg (Sesamstraat and the Milky Way). In the show, Pino, Tommie, Ieniemienie, and Meneer Aart travel through the galaxy. After finding the sun, they don't know their way back to Earth. They become friends with Flonkertje, a little star who directs them home.