![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Milky_Way_infrared.jpg/640px-Milky_Way_infrared.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Zone of Avoidance
area in the sky obscured by the Milky Way. / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Zone of Avoidance (ZOA) is the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Milky_Way_infrared.jpg/640px-Milky_Way_infrared.jpg)
Dust and stars in the plane of the Milky Way (the galactic plane) block our view of about 20% of the sky at visible wavelengths. As a result, optical galaxy catalogues are usually very incomplete close to the galactic plane.