TED Ed: Why is the Milky Way a Spiral?

Directed by Josh O’Caoimh and Mikai Geronimo

With Addison Anderson

Thirteen billion years ago, the gas and dust particles that eventually became our Milky Way were whizzing around in every direction. Despite the wild motion of its parts, the galaxy as a whole was rotating about an axis. So why did the Milky Way, like most galaxies, become flat, and not spherical like stars and planets?