In astronomical contexts, "Milky Way" often, but not always, means "The Milky Way Galaxy" now, but knowledge of the faint diffuse band of ight that is the part of the disc of the Milky Way Galaxy viewable from Earth bore the name "The Milky Way" in various languages for thousands of years longer than humanity has known about galaxies.

@notovny So "Milky Way" sometimes refers to only the part of the Milky Way Galaxy that is visible to human eye, is that correct?

"Milky Way Galaxy" seems a bit redundant, given that "Galaxy" is already derived from the greek word for milk. The band of stars was after all visible in ancient times (Alkmene's mother milk spilled by her son, the hero Hercules) and that is part of a larger structure was discovered only later. The German Wikipedia article for Milky Way makes the same distinction as the Quiz, so at least somebody seems to believe it's correct (although the entry seems a bit garbled).

In the US at least, you might also use the word "Galaxy" to distinguish it from the candy bar, just as you'd use the word "Bar" to distinguish a Mars Bar from the planet (or Roman deity)...

@DarrelHoffman, just make sure you don't include a comma between 'Milky Way' and 'Galaxy' - it will only add to the confusion. ;-)

@EikePierstorff The first sentence in the German Wikipedia reads The Milky Way is the galaxy containing our solar system, and similarly the English Wikipedia, so I think this distinction can be assumed to be rather fringe.

@smcs There are multiple sentences in the article. The one I am referring to is "Den Namen Milchstraßensystem trägt das Sternsystem nach der Milchstraße, altgriechisch γαλαξίας (κύκλος) galaxías (kýklos), zu γάλα gála „Milch“,[6] die als freiäugige Innenansicht des Systems von der Erde aus wie ein quer über das Firmament gesetzter milchiger Pinselstrich erscheint". I have never heard the word "Milchstrassensystem" before, and a galaxy is not a star system, hence I called it "garbled".

@EikePierstorff According to Spektrum, the "Milchstraßensystem" consists of 50 galaxies. But I'm not an astronomer, someone else should edit that article :)

Milky Way is 2%, Mily Way Galaxy is cream ;)

@smcs I happily retract the word "garbled". My point was that "Milky Way" is pretty much the translation of "Galaxy". It's not that the usage upsets me in any way (after all this was coined before it was know there is more than one Galaxy), I just thought that was an interesting tidbit that hadn't been previously mentioned.

It is simply semantic. Either one identifies Milky Way as a band or as the entire Galaxy. Then of course one can give answers according to taste or perhaps an accepted rule, but it should be clear that not real astronomical fact is behind the discussion. It is also worth nothing that Galaxy and galaxies is derived from Milky Way (through greek).

@EikePierstorff Oh no I agree the Wikipedia article is a bit garbled, since "Milchstraßensystem" seems to be used wrongly for the Milky Way (at least according to Spektrum which is a sort of reputable source.. more so than Quizlet).

The direct implication of using this "logic" would be that the full name would be The Milky Way Galaxy galaxy. It's a bad question and their answer is nonsense. It's just like starship, it's perfectly possible for a name to refer to a part and also the whole depending on context.

@smcs at least according to my little knowledge - or better, taste - of German, the composed word you have mentioned is right our Galaxy, germanically called as the System that owes to the Milky Way - or the Milky Way as a whole. An entire thread that does not reserve this much of words dedicated to it. Starting from myself and without considering the possibility of an existing official astronomical nomenclature.

@eps said all. It is a bad question.

Isn't the Milky Way the galactic core? Every part of the sky is part of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Greek word galaktos come from laktos, meaning milk. So "the Milky Way Galaxy" is just saying "the milky milky thing", which is surprisingly catchy.

@Acccumulation That's not true. The Andromeda galaxy, which is visible with the naked eye, is not part of the Milky Way galaxy.

@Acccumulation I don't know what it means for a part of the sky to "consist of an eyeline", but either way what you wrote first is not true.