Galaxy Facts
Galaxy Facts
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| Interesting Galaxy Facts: |
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| The idea of a galaxy was first realized by Thomas Wright in 1917. |
| Galaxies pass through each other all the time but because the stars are so spread out, the chances of them actually touching is very unlikely. |
| Elliptical galaxies contain some of the oldest stars because they do not have the ability to form new stars. |
| Elliptical galaxies often appear to have one bright star in the middle but it is actually a collection of stars. |
| Elliptical galaxies are so bright that if Earth were located inside of one, there would always be day light everywhere no matter the time of day. |
| Irregular galaxies are those that do not fit in any other type. |
| A lot of irregular galaxies probably began as an elliptical or spiral galaxy that crashed into another galaxy. |
| From the southern hemisphere of Earth, two other galaxies can be seen with the naked eye. |
| A small galaxy is one that contains less than a billion stars. |
| Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy. |
| The largest galaxies in the universe may be up to two million light-years long. |
| Sometimes galaxies merge with other galaxies to form a galactic merger. |
| The origin of galaxies is debatable but most astronomers believe they were caused by the big bang. |
| There are four galaxies that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye: the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. |
| The closest galaxy to the Milky Way is about 80,000 light-years away. |
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