The visual Milky Way

Why do we see the Milky Way as a band of light across the sky? Is it continuous? If not, why not? The band of light that we see up in the sky is not continuous. It is composed of the individual lights that originate from stars and other material that lie within the galactic plane. Looking at Milky Way means looking at the disk of our galaxy from inside. The stars that are very far away from us merge their light making it look like a continuous band. This band stretches from the northern hemisphere to southern hemisphere and is clearly visible during summer nights.