How exactly does NASA take pictures of our own galaxy, and get a complete picture?

1 Answer
Jan 20, 2017

They don't.

Explanation:

Since the milky way is an estimated 100,000 light-years across, there is no way that we can get anything out far enough away to take a picture of the entire galaxy from the outside. All of the pictures of our galaxy are actually just renderings based on what we estimate the galaxy looks like.

Voyager 1 is the farthest we've managed to get and there is still debate on whether or not it has reached the edge of the solar system let alone the galaxy.