What is the Milky Way?

We can't see all of our galaxy. Much of it is blocked from our view by dust and gas. However, scientists have used things like x-ray emissions to get a pretty good idea of what the Milky Way Galaxy looks like. We live roughly halfway between the edge and the center.

Light and other electromagnetic radiation from parts of the galaxy take tens of thousands of years to reach us. This makes me wonder if our image of the galaxy is based on what we see now, or based on where we expect stars to be right now?

https://www.universetoday.com/106062/what-is-the-milky-way-2/