The Milky Way appears above Earth’s bright atmospheric glow in this Aug. 23, 2025, photograph from the International Space Station as it soared 261 miles above southern Iran at approximately 12:54 a.m. local time. The camera was configured for low light and long duration settings.
Our home galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars, enough gas and dust to make billions more stars, and at least ten times as much dark matter as all the stars and gas put together. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – slated to launch no later than May 2027 – will help scientists better understand the gas and dust strewn between stars in our galaxy, known as the interstellar medium.