How to Use the Milky Way in a Sentence

the Milky Way

noun
  • To see the complex structure of the Milky Way with the naked eye, look for a location with a Bortle index of 3 or below.
    Vahe Peroomian, CBS News, 5 July 2023
  • On the return, a nocturnal ceiling emerges to reveal one of the most unperturbed views of the Milky Way available anywhere in the Lower 48.
    Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, 7 June 2023
  • From things too small to see (washing my hands to get rid of any germs from the trash) from things almost too big to grasp (the Milky Way laid out above me, sprawling across the sky a hundred thousand light years wide).
    Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 13 Oct. 2010
  • This suggests there are at least a few hundred million planets in the Milky Way alone that may in principle be habitable.
    Mario Livio, Scientific American, 19 Apr. 2023
  • In short, the maps show not the Milky Way in static equilibrium, as researchers expected, but rather the galaxy's departure from it.
    Ann Finkbeiner, Scientific American, 16 Jan. 2024
  • Now, a new study looks into the properties of a set of distant galaxies, showing that one of them appears to be larger than the Milky Way at only 700 million years after the Big Bang.
    John Timmer, Ars Technica, 22 Feb. 2023
  • According to a recent study, 80% of Americans and one-third of the planet's population can no longer see the Milky Way from their homes because of light pollution.
    Vahe Peroomian, CBS News, 5 July 2023
  • According to a recent study, 80% of Americans and one-third of the planet’s population can no longer see the Milky Way from their homes because of light pollution.
    Vahe Peroomian, The Conversation, 5 July 2023
  • Grasslands National Park contains one of the largest and darkest dark sky preserves in the country, making the park a go-to for visitors who want to see the Milky Way or peep constellations.
    Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 28 July 2023
  • The finding of six potential mega-galaxies containing perhaps as many stars as the Milky Way offers hints to how fast the universe developed after the Big Bang.
    Marcia Dunn, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Feb. 2023
  • The cosmic neutrinos originating in the Milky Way muddle things further.
    Thomas Lewton, Quanta Magazine, 29 June 2023
  • Bright, innovative and with years of experience as an executive corporate chef, Phil was ready to work with the family to lead the Milky Way into a new era.
    Ethel G. Hofman, Sun Sentinel, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Space for sunning was moved to the roof deck, which multitasks as a breezy spot for sundowners and canapés as the equatorial sun descends into an ocean of molten gold, or a place to gaze at the Milky Way under a perfectly clear sky.
    Lee Cobaj, Robb Report, 19 Feb. 2023
  • Although all the features the team observed have been spotted on other planets elsewhere in the Milky Way by other telescopes, other research teams typically identified only one at a time.
    Julia Musto, Fox News, 25 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the Milky Way.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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