Home > Concepts, Galaxies > Ephemeris: 08/03/2026 – The Milky Way, a spiral galaxy with a bar

Ephemeris: 08/03/2026 – The Milky Way, a spiral galaxy with a bar

August 3, 2026
A somewhat dipalidated drinking establishment with the neon sign stating "Galaxy Bar".
Not this kind of bar. See below. Generated by Google Gemini AI.

This is Ephemeris for Monday, August 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:32. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:07 this evening.

The Milky Way is classed as a barred spiral galaxy. It has an apparent spiral structure in its disk illuminated by bright massive short lived stars that don’t stray far from the nebulae they were born from. Nebulae, mostly dark, form the backbone of the spiral structure. The Andromeda Galaxy is also a spiral, a little larger than our Milky Way Galaxy. Dwarf galaxies like the Magellanic clouds which are seen from the southern hemisphere of the earth that happen to be satellites of the Milky Way, and are irregular in shape. A third type of galaxy is the elliptical galaxy, many of which are extremely large and contain pretty much nothing but old stars, and no nebulosity to make new ones.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Artist's conception of the Milky Way. From NASA/JPL/Spitzer/Cal Tech
Artist’s conception of the Milky Way. From NASA/JPL/Spitzer/Cal Tech
The Magellanic Clouds
The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, these dwarf galaxies are seen best from the southern hemisphere. Credit: ESO S. Brunier.
Different types of galaxies.
Different types of galaxies. The lenticular type are thought to be intermediate between elliptical and spiral.
Categories: Concepts, Galaxies