The Disk Versus the Bulge
Below is a radio picture of our Galaxy. It shows the neutral hydrogen gas which lies along the Disk of our Galaxy. It is extremely tight along the plane. NO gas is found above the plane. Only very nearby gas appears up and down a bit from the center.
In order to see the Bulge of our galaxy, it is best to
look at infrared wavelengths.
The light in this picture is due entirely to cool stars. They
represent a very old population of stars. Many of these stars are
in a flatten, spherical orbit around the very center of the galaxy.
The shape looks quite different than when we look at where the
gas lies in the picture at top. Yet these are identical view
points of our Galaxy!
