What plane does the bright band of the Milky Way trace across the sky?

The bright band of the Milky Way traces the Galactic plane across the sky.

The Galactic plane is the flattened region in which most of the Milky Way’s stars, gas, and dust orbit the galactic center. From Earth, looking along this crowded disk places countless unresolved stars along the same line of sight, producing the Milky Way’s hazy white band.

It is not the celestial equator, which is Earth’s equator projected onto the sky, nor the ecliptic, which marks the apparent path of the Sun. The Galactic plane is tilted by about 60 degrees to the ecliptic and about 63 degrees to the celestial equator. Dark gaps such as the Great Rift are clouds of interstellar dust blocking light within the band.

The band circles the entire sky, passing through prominent regions including Sagittarius, where the Milky Way’s central bulge and galactic center lie. Its appearance changes with light pollution, season, latitude, and viewing conditions.