Researchers Reveal the Color of the Milky Way

An image of one of the Milky Way analogs found by Timothy Licquia and Jeffrey Newman. (Brittany McDonald/McMaster University, Armin Rest/Space Telescope Science Institute, and Jeffrey Newman/University of Pittsburgh)

Astronomers from the University of Pittsburgh announced today the most accurate determination yet of the color of the Milky Way Galaxy: pure white. Assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy Jeffrey Newman and graduate student Timothy Licquia used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to draw this conclusion, which they anticipate will help provide some context as to how the Milky Way compares to other galaxies.

Studying the “cosmic color” of the Milky Way may seem straight forward, but because Earth’s solar system is located well within the Milky Way, clouds of gas and dust obscure much of the galaxy from view, preventing researchers from seeing the “big picture.”

Using the SDSS data, the researchers identified galaxies similar to the Milky Way in terms of the total amount of stars and the rate at which they create new stars. Both properties are related to the brightness and color of a galaxy. Newman and Licquia used the average color of the similar galaxies to infer the color of the Milky Way.

Astronomers divide most galaxies into two broad categories based on their colors: red galaxies that rarely form new stars and blue galaxies where stars are still being born. The new measurements place the Milky Way near the division between the two classes.