Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
After a brief review of previous attempts at identifying the morphological type of our Galaxy by optical or radio methods, a new approach from surface photometry is described. A two-component model consisting of an R1/4 spheroid and an exponential disk is fit to the local galactic disk brightness inferred from star counts and to new observations of the brightness distribution in the bulge along the galactic prime meridian. All parameters are in close quantitative agreement with corresponding quantities for Sbc II galaxies and confirm the AB(rs) morphology first proposed in 1963 (IAU Symposium No. 20). An average of NGC 1073, 4303, 5921 and 6744 described in 1969 (IAU Symposium No. 38) closely approximates the photometric properties of our Galaxy.