NRM lecture – The Milky Way

NRM/NVR lecture: The Milky Way

On February 7th, a cold and misty morning did not deter over 50 enthusiastic people making their way to the Nationaal Ruimtevaart Museum near Lelystad to hear a wonderful lecture by Prof. Henny Lamers, University of Amsterdam.

After a welcome and introduction by Zeholy Pronk, Prof. Lamers began with a short history of how our understanding of our Milky Way developed from the first star-map made by Herschel, through to more recent astronomical models of Harold Shapley. 🌌 ✨ Using incredible images from both visible and infra-red telescopes, as well as very insightful animations and analogies to everyday occurrences (think stadium crowds and traffic flow!), Prof. Lamers elegantly led us through the essentials of star and galaxy formation, and explanations of our observations and imagery of them.

Highlighting the local contribution in 1958 by a radio telescope in Dwingeloo which discovered gas clouds in the Milky Way, we also learned the incredible vital statistics of our local galaxy. 🔭 Approximately 100000 light-years across and comprising 200 billion stars, our Solar System lies in one of the spiral arms about 25000 ly from the center.

Together with fascinating facts such as it took 11 days of exposure time to capture the famous Hubble Deep Field photo from 2004, this provided the audience with the fundamentals of modern astronomical observations.

As this was the first talk of 2026, the speaker and audience enjoyed a break where glühwein en knippertjes were served by the NRM volunteers.

In the second half Prof. Lamers Henny continued with the current theories of the formation of the Milky Way, illustrated by mesmerizing animations. He closed with thoughts on the probable fate of our Milky Way in the distant future, where it will eventually collide with the Andromeda Nebula.

Prof. Lamers answered a number of questions from the attentive audience before closing the talk. He also brought copies of his astronomy booklets for sale, and even signed them upon request! 📖