Earth Science

Galaxy- is a cluster of millions or billions of stars.

HOW BIG ARE GALAXIES?

A Galaxies are the largest systems in the Universe.  In fact, they are so large that
we cannot measure those using normal systems of measurements like kilometres or miles.
Instead we have to use light itself to measure the size of galaxies.  Galaxies are measured
using light years.  A lightyear is the distance a beam of light will travel in one year.
1 lightyear = 5,865,696,000,000 miles. Galaxies are thousands of light years across, and
hundreds of light years thick.

HOW DO WE CLASSIFY GALAXIES?

Edwin Hubble first discovered galaxies he also came up with a classification system to
help describe and group galaxies, based on shape.  There are three main categories of
galaxies:

S P I R A L G A L A X I E S - Most galaxies in the

universe are spiral galaxies.  Spiral galaxies have a
central dense cluster of stars.  The core is the
brightest part of spiral galaxies because there are
so many stars packed in that one space.  Spiralling
out from the core are several spiralling arms that
revolve around the centred.
ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES- Elliptical
galaxies are the second most common type of
galaxy.  Like spirals, elliptical galaxies have a
dense, bright core, however they do not have arms
spiralling off.  As a result they have a plain
elliptical shape.  

IRREGULAR GALAXIES- Irregular

galaxies are smaller, less bright, and the least
common of all galaxies.  As their name implies,
irregular galaxies do not have a definable regular
shape.  Instead they have random, irregular, and
often interesting shapes.  The irregular galaxy
shown to the right is called the Hummingbird
Galaxy after its bizarre shape.  

OUR GALAXY
The galaxy we belong to is called the Milky
Way.  It got this name because as viewed from
Earth all of the stars in the galaxy create a generally
milky lighter streak in the night’s sky. 

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy about 140,000

light years in diameter.  Its greatest thickness is
about 20,000 light years at its center.  The Sun is
one of about 400 billion stars in the Milky
Way, and is located about 23,000 light years from the center.

Prepared by: Abdurahim J. Isnain