Earthsky.org- 10/18/13, Deborah Byrd

Milky Way on left, and faint zodiacal light on right, with planets Venus, Saturn and Mercury in front of the light. Photo taken at Mount Bromo in Indonesia on September 28, 2013 by Justin Ng

At one glance, one may think that this image is photoshopped or it’s a composite because it’s simply impossible to see Milky Way galaxy at dusk. But what you’re really seeing here is a single exposure shot of a rare phenomenon, known as zodiacal light (a.k.a. “false dusk”), that I have captured during my recent trip to Mount Bromo in the Southern Hemisphere. Zodiacal light is best seen during spring and autumn, and I chose to visit Mt Bromo a few days after [the Southern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox] as I hoped to capture the zodiacal light along with the 3 planets, 3 volcanoes and a Milky Way galaxy.

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Space.com - Nola Taylor Redd, 9/6/13

Shifting cosmic winds suggest that our solar system lives in a surprisingly complex and dynamic part of the Milky Way galaxy, a new study reports.

Scientists examining four decades' worth of data have discovered that the interstellar gas breezing through the solar system has shifted in direction by 6 degrees, a finding that could affect how we view not only the entire galaxy but the sun itself.

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Spaceref.com, 6/29/13, Marc Boucher

This image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 6744, one of the galaxies most similar to our Milky Way in the local universe. This ultraviolet view highlights the vast extent of the fluffy spiral arms, and demonstrates that star formation can occur in the outer regions of galaxies. The galaxy is situated in the constellation of Pavo at a distance of about 30 million light-years.

NGC 6744 is bigger than the Milky Way, with a disk stretching 175,000 light-years across. A small, distorted companion galaxy is located nearby, which is similar to our galaxy's Large Magellanic Cloud. This companion, called NGC 6744A, can be seen as a blob in the main galaxy's outer arm, at upper right.

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Huffington Post - 6/4/13, Miriam Kramer

Our home in the Milky Way could be much larger than ever thought before, according to a new study.

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) found that the area of the galaxy that holds Earth and the rest of the solar system is a prominent feature of the spiral galaxy.

The solar system exists in a part of the galaxy known as the Local Arm. Until now, scientists thought that this particular part of the Milky Way was just a tiny spur between two large branches known as the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

For more on this story please see The Huffington Post