Students will make a model of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Paper plates (7" diameter or larger), black paint, silver glitter, gold glitter, stapler, white glue, paint brush, pin, thread
We live in one of the starry arms of a large spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. The Sun and its planets (including Earth) lie about half way out from the center of the galaxy. The Milky Way is shaped like a huge disk with spiral arms of stars reaching out from the center of the galaxy called the nucleus. The galaxy rotates once every 250 million years. It is made up of at least 200 billion stars, as well as dust and gas. The Milky Way Galaxy is so big that light takes light 100,000 years to cross from one side to the other.
What happens to the spiral arms of the galaxy? Where is Earth in your Milky Way?