Milky Way (Sagittarius through Aquila). View of a summer night sky showing the Milky Way above a silhouette of trees. The central white area of the Milky Way is seen in the constellation Sagittarius. The brightest areas are where the concentration of stars is highest. The Milky Way is a disc-shaped spiral galaxy containing at least 100 billion stars. Seen from Earth, which is located in one of the Milky Way's spiral arms, it appears as a band of stars and illuminated gas nebulae, with dark areas where dust clouds block out the light from stars behind.