Question: Why is the milky way called the milky way?

Nick Wright answered on 7 Mar 2014:

The Milky Way is the name we give for the band of stars that we see in the night sky and which make up our Galaxy. If you go to a dark sight you can often see this band across the night sky, and it appears almost grey-ish or milky coloured, which probably led to the origin of the name. In Greek mythology the Milky Way is supposed to come from the breast milk of the goddess Hera when she was feeding Zeus’ son Heracles.