Via lactea
Via lactea, vel orbis lacteus, est galaxias, in quo habitamus nos. Quae enim, diametro circiter 100 000 annorum luce mensorum et crassitudine fere 12 000 a.l.m., stellarum 219 000 000 000 vel plura continet, inter quos Sol et huius systema planetarium Tellus includens.

Nomen 

Nomen a specie fasciae lacteae obscure ardentis transque caelum nocturnum arcuantis deducitur, in qua stellae singulae oculis nudis distingui non possunt. Via lactea fasciae speciem ostendit, quia compages eius orbis similis est, ex interiore visa. Ovidius primus inter auctores nobis notos hoc nomen refert in Metamorphosibus suis, ubi de convivio et concilio deorum apud Iovem celebratis narrat:
Est via sublimis, caelo manifesta sereno:
lactea nomen habet, candore notabilis ipso.
Hac iter est superis ad magni tecta Tonantis
regalemque domum.
Iam ante Ovidium Cicero in opere, quod de re publica scripsit, appellatione usus est orbis lactei:
Ea vita via est in caelum et in hunc coetum eorum, qui iam vixerunt et corpore laxati illum incolunt locum, quem vides. (Erat autem is splendidissimo candore inter flammas circus elucens.) Quem vos, ut a Graiis accepistis, orbem lacteum nuncupatis. 

Haec appellatio a Graeco  mutuata est, quamquam in textibus nobis cognitis  loco substantivo primum et ante Ciceronem reperitur.  apud posteriores invenitur. Ob similitudinem certam in mythis narratur hoc nomen orbis vel circuli lactei provenisse de profusione lactis Iunonis sive Herculem sive Mercurium infantem nutrientis.

Cosmographia 

Galaxias, quam viam lacteam appellamus, pars est gregis propinqui (local group), galaxiam propinquum Andromedae aliosque comprehendentis, qui ipse pars est supercumuli Virginis (Virgo supercluster) galaxias fere centum includentis, qui iterum pars est maioris supercumuli Laniakea (Laniakea supercluster), anno 2014 reperti, galaxiarum circiter centum milia comprehendentis.

Via lactea in medio bulbum habet, e quo emergere videntur bracchia spiralia fere quattuor, scilicet Persei, Normae et ulterius, Scuti-Centauri et Carinae-Sagittarii; inter bracchia Persei et Scuti-Centauri iacet Calcar Orionis, ubi Sol noster reperitur.

Notae

Bibliographia 
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Benjamin, Robert A., E. Churchwell, B. L. Babler, R. Indebetouw. 2005. First GLIMPSE Results on the Stellar Structure of the Galaxy. Astrophysical Journal 630: L149–L152.
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Rix, Hans-Walter, et Jo Bovy. 2013. The Milky Way's Stellar Disk. Astronomy and Astrophysics Review 21: 61 ff.
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Urquhart, J. S., C. C. Figura, et T. J. T. Moore. 2013. The RMS Survey: Galactic distribution of massive star formation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Yin, J., J. L. Hou, et N. Prantzos. 2009. Milky Way vs Andromeda: a tale of two disks. Astronomy and Astrophysics vol. 505: 497–508.

Astrophysica
Cosmologia
Corona galactica

 Nexus externi 

 Galaxy Map "Basic plan of the Milky Way" ibidem
 "The Milky Way Explorer" ibidem
 "The Milky Way Galaxy" apud Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Sky-Map.org (tabula cosmographica)
 "The MultiWavelength Milky Way" apud NASA
 "VISTA Telescope: 9 billion pixel photo of a Milky Way" (Observatorium Australe Europaeum)
 "Milky Way" apud situm Alien Worlds (Universitas Cambriae Meridianae)
 The Planck One-Year All-Sky Survey''

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Grex propinquus