Galaxies

Discover galaxies! Learn about the Milky Way and types like spiral, elliptical, and irregular.

The Milky Way Galaxy When you explain where you live, do you typically describe the town you live in? What about the country you are from? Try zooming out even further. Where do you really live? All of us live on planet Earth, and Earth’s address is within the Solar System. The solar system is made up of all the celestial objects like planets, asteroids, and moons that orbit the Sun or orbit other objects that are orbiting the Sun.What else is located within our celestial neighborhood? The night sky is peppered with beautiful stars, which are huge, glowing balls of hot gas trillions of miles away. All the stars you can see with your naked eye, as well as our solar system and other solar systems, belong to something called the Milky Way galaxy.A galaxy is a collection of gas, dust, stars, and solar systems, all held together by the invisible but powerful force of gravity. Gravity is what causes your body to stay on Earth’s surface, and it’s also the force that makes Earth orbit the Sun. At the center of the Milky Way galaxy is a supermassive black hole, where gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape!There are three basic shapes of galaxies: elliptical, spiral, and irregular. Irregular galaxies are just that; they have no defined shape or structure. Elliptical galaxies are shaped like ovals or round, and they have stars spread consistently throughout. Spiral galaxies have a central bulge and arms that spiral around the center.The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, where the center bulge of the spiral is elongated into a bar shape. Astronomers know this because we can see our night sky’s stars arranged into a thin band. Additionally, they can view other galaxies’ arrangements and predict what our night sky should look like if we belonged to a galaxy of that shape.Much of outer space can only be viewed telescopically, but there are some beautiful things you can observe with the naked eye. It is possible to see the galactic core of the Milky Way, the brightest part of the galaxy where nebulas, star clusters, and dust lanes are concentrated into a hazy band. However, the sky must be very dark. The Milky Way is most visible during the summer because it is up in the sky for a greater period of time. The next time you find yourself outside on a clear summer night, try looking up and observing your home galaxy! 1. According to the passage, how do we know we live in a spiral galaxy? Because we can see it from the outside Life on other galaxies has told us The night sky aligns with other galaxies in the universe that we know are spiral Because the stars are equal distance apart 2. What would be another good title for this passage? The Three Types of Galaxies Our Home Galaxy: The Milky Way Different Galaxies in the Universe The Universe Around Us Types of Galaxies 3. During which season, can you most likely see the galactic core from the United States? Summer Fall Winter Spring 4. What are the 4 types of galaxies? 5. Describe characteristics of a spiral galaxy. 6. What is the type of galaxy that has no defined pattern or shape? 7. List two characteristics of a spiral galaxy. 8. List two characteristics of an elliptical galaxy. 9. List two characteristics of an irregular galaxy. What is a galaxy? (article) What is a Galaxy? 10. Where do the spirals come from? 11. How many stars are contained in the Milky Way? 12. Why does an elliptical galaxy look like one giant star? Spiral Galaxy Milky Way The Sun is located in this galaxy Dense cluster of stars in the center "arms" coming out from the center of the galaxy Irregular Galaxy No recognizable pattern No consistent shape Elliptical Galaxy Football-shaped Stars are evenly spread out throughout the galaxy Draw a spiral galaxy in the space below. Draw an elliptical galaxy in the space below. Draw an irregular galaxy in the space below. 13. Which galaxy is represented in the image below? Irregular galaxy Spiral galaxy Elliptical galaxy Electromagnetic galaxy 14. Which image best represents the location of the Sun in the Milky Way galaxy? 15. What are the names of the 3 types of galaxies? spiral, elliptical, electromagnetic spiral, irregular, electromagnetic elliptical, obtuse, irregular spiral, elliptical, irregular A galaxy is a collection of gas, dust, stars, and solar systems. They are all different shapes and sizes, but we can put them into three main groups. Spiral galaxies have a central bulge and spiral arms. Elliptical galaxies are oval or round in shape and have older stars. When we can’t fit a galaxy into either of those categories, then it is called an irregular galaxy, which have no defined shape or structure. Knowing about our own galaxy gives us clues about how Earth and our own solar system formed. 16. In your own words, explain the difference between spiral, elliptical, and irregular-shaped galaxies. 17. Describe where the sun is located in our disc-shaped galaxy, the Milky Way. 18. Describe Earth’s distance to the Sun compared to other stars in our galaxy. 19. Explain the difference between a light year and an astronomical unit (AU). Be sure to be as detailed as possible.