Here's a picture of what scientists believe our galaxy looks like, based on quite a bit of information gathered from probes and pictures.
Take a good look at the center. It's so bright that no one really knows what's at the center. It could be a huge cluster of stars. But, here's a picture of Centaurus A, a different galaxy.
Look closely at the center. Pretty bright right? Kind of like ours. The twist is what's in the center of Centaurus A is a giant black hole. While we cannot yet know for sure what is at the center of our galaxy, some astrologists are led to believe that it's also a giant black hole. This may be a scary thought, but not to worry. It will be billions, if not trillions of years before we are effected by it if there is a black hole, maybe even more than trillions. Before that time, our galaxy should actually collide with the Andromeda galaxy. But before that happens, the sun will bake the Earth to a crisp. Again, not to worry, all of this is billions of years off. Still though, it SHOULD encourage space exploration. As a just in case.
Wanna know something else that's pretty cool? Our planet has captured a mini-moon in it's orbit. It's very small (compared to other celestial bodies) and I'm not sure if you can actually see it with the naked eye at night, but it's there. It's simulated trajectory has it wandering around our planet for a while, then taking off to go explore the rest of the solar system.
Thoughts? Comments?