ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

The Milky Way Project

The Milky Way Project is when people look at pictures of the sky and help scientists learn more about our galaxy, the Milky Way. Imagine that you and your friends are playing a big game of "I Spy." You all take turns looking at a picture of the sky and trying to find things like stars, planets, and other objects. The Milky Way Project is kind of like that, but instead of playing a game, people are looking for things that scientists are interested in.

The pictures of the sky that people look at are taken by really big and powerful telescopes, much bigger than the one you might have at home. These telescopes take pictures of the whole sky and scientists use these pictures to study things like stars, dust, and gases in our galaxy. However, there is so much to study that it would take the scientists a very long time to look at all of these pictures by themselves.

That's where the Milky Way Project comes in. Scientists need help from regular people to look at these pictures and find interesting things within them. People who want to help can go online and look at the pictures of the sky from the Milky Way Project website. They can help by looking for things like bubbles, spiral arms, and other objects that scientists are interested in. By doing this, people help the scientists find and study things in the Milky Way that they might not have been able to find on their own.

In summary, the Milky Way Project is a way for people to help scientists learn more about our galaxy by looking at pictures of the sky and identifying interesting objects. It's like playing a game of "I Spy" but with real pictures of outer space!