Galaxies · Galaxy · barred spiral galaxy
We live inside the Milky Way, so no camera has photographed it from outside. See its band across our sky, and an artist’s concept of its shape.
Featured palette: Artist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outside (Sampled from this image)
#5E667C#000000#080A11#2A3144#535E7D#7885A4#B7B9C1
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. · released 2008-06-03
About Milky Way
The Milky Way is our home galaxy, a barred spiral. From Earth we see it edge-on as a band of light across the sky.
| Classification | Galaxy (barred spiral galaxy) |
|---|---|
| Distance | 25,000 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESO |
Why these colours?
From inside
ESO’s 360° panorama photographs the whole sky; the galaxy’s band is a soft glow against the dark.
From: All-sky panorama from inside the galaxy Visible-light composite
From outside: an illustration
NASA’s artist’s concept shows two major arms attached to a thick central bar. It is an illustration, not a photograph.
From: Artist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outside Artist’s concept / illustrative model
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Milky Way.
All-sky panorama from inside the galaxy
Sampled from this image · All-sky panorama from inside the galaxy
#232122RGB 35, 33, 34region average#080808RGB 8, 8, 854% of the region#111111RGB 17, 17, 1732% of the region#262426RGB 38, 36, 388% of the region#464145RGB 70, 65, 694% of the region
See where these colours came from
Artist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outside
Sampled from this image · Artist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outside
#5E667CRGB 94, 102, 124region average#000000RGB 0, 0, 028% of the region#080A11RGB 8, 10, 1719% of the region#2A3144RGB 42, 49, 6818% of the region#535E7DRGB 83, 94, 12516% of the region#7885A4RGB 120, 133, 16415% of the region#B7B9C1RGB 183, 185, 1934% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Milky Way
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Galactic Night
Inspired by this object
#2E2E2ERGB 46, 46, 46from #080808#666666RGB 102, 102, 102from #111111#A6A3A6RGB 166, 163, 166from #262426#ECE6EBRGB 236, 230, 235from #464145
The panorama’s night greys spread for a deep, neutral palette.
Explore the views
All-sky panorama from inside the galaxyVisible-light compositeArtist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outsideArtist’s concept / illustrative modelPick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Milky Way’s colours
Is there a photo of the Milky Way from outside?
No. Pictures of it from outside are illustrations based on measurements from inside.
Sources
- Galaxies — NASA
- The Milky Way panorama — ESO
- Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover Artist Concept — NASA
Image credits
- All-sky panorama from inside the galaxy: ESO/S. Brunier. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 9055c7a801035211706565d838a6fa52ac9e670168b788e0008bd947e55e5c0e).
- Artist’s concept of the galaxy seen from outside: NASA/JPL-Caltech. NASA media (not copyrighted; see the NASA image and media guidelines). Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 859982c87a70ce8d8391af2972cafd74b3ef48714d6713311d53273d2714312e).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 9579038e437c. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.