= Milky Way
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The Milky Way is the <barred spiral galaxy> containing the <Solar system>. Its <galactic disk>, central <stellar bar> and surrounding <stellar halo> are viewed from inside the disk, so distance and obscuration complicate attempts to reconstruct the whole system. <Radio astronomy> supplies a geometric route through the obscuring <interstellar dust>: <masers> near young massive <stars> act as compact markers whose <parallaxes> and <proper motions> can be measured by <very-long-baseline interferometry>. A 2019 analysis of about 200 such markers mapped spiral structure and constrained the <rotation curve> using their three-dimensional motions. These measurements connect the familiar bright band along the <galactic plane> with a spatial and dynamical model.<Trigonometric Parallaxes of High-Mass Star Forming Regions: Our View of the Milky Way by M. J. Reid and others>[Abstract: approximately 200 maser parallaxes and proper motions, spiral-arm geometry and three-dimensional kinematics]{ref}
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