Guide to Space
How Did the Milky Way Form?
The Milky Way has been around a long, long time. The age of our galaxy is approximately 13.6 billion years,…
Triangulum Galaxy
There are three large spiral galaxies in our Local Group of galaxies. Our Milky Way is one, of course, and…
Starburst Galaxy
All galaxies are going through some rate of star formation. New stars are being formed every year in the Milky…
Galaxy Core
[/caption] A typical spiral galaxy is shaped like a flat spinning disk - think of a record. It has a…
How Do Galaxies Get Named?
[/caption] Andromeda, M31, Triangulum, NGC 2403 the Whirlpool... have you ever wondered how galaxies get their names? Galaxies usually have…
Galactic Alignment
[/caption] Just like the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun itself is part of the Milky Way galaxy. It takes…
Galactic Equator
[/caption] The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, measuring 100,000 light-years across, but only 1,000 light-years thick. Imagine a spinning…
Galactic Plane
[/caption] The Milky Way is a vast spiral galaxy, shaped a bit like a spinning record; just one that measures…
Distance to Andromeda
[/caption] The distance to the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.54 million light-years, or 778 kiloparsecs. The Andromeda Galaxy can be seen…
Galaxy Rotation
[/caption] Look across the Universe, and you'll see that almost everything is rotating. The Earth rotates on its axis as…