Lucy Blacker from Australia takes to the water at the 40 Foot for a Christmas Day Swim in Ireland on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Alan Betson/The Irish Times)
A rainstorm moves over the Atlantic Ocean after passing through Camden, Maine, at sunset, Tuesday, August 1, 2023. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
A rainbow rises over flooded fields after the Rivers Thames and Churn burst their banks, in Cricklade, western England on January 3, 2024, following Storm Henk which brought strong winds and heavy rain across much of the country. (Photo by Adrian Dennis/AFP Photo)
A rainbow cuts through a squall above The Needles, the Isle of Wight, on Tuesday evening, April 16, 2024. (Photo by Jamie Russell/IslandVisions via BNPS)
A man holds a copy of the Koran during a protest against Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou's attendance last week at a Paris rally in support of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which featured a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad as the cover of its first edition since an attack by Islamist gunmen, in Niamey January 17, 2015. (Photo by Tagaza Djibo/Reuters)
The Milky Way is the galaxy in which Earth is contained. This name derives from its appearance as a dim “milky” glowing band arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The term “Milky Way” is a translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, from the Hellenistic Greek γαλαξίας κύκλος (pr. galaxías kýklos, “milky circle”). The Milky Way appears like a band because it is a disk-shaped structure being viewed from inside. The fact that this faint band of light is made up of stars was proven in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used his telescope to resolve it into individual stars. In the 1920s, observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.
A participant runs through colored powder as she takes part in the Get Rainbowed run in Prague May 23, 2015. Get Rainbowed is a five-kilometre race with the aim of promoting a healthy lifestyle. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)