MILKY WAY

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System.[18][19][20][nb 1] Its name "milky" is
derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky whose
individual stars cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. The term "Milky Way" is a
translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek (galaxas kklos,
"milky circle").[21][22][23] From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped
structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into
individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought
that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate
between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis,[24] observations by Edwin
Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxiesnow estimated to number
as many as 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe.[25][26]

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that has a diameter usually considered to be about
100,000120,000 light-years[27] but may be 150,000180,000 light-years.[28] The Milky Way is
estimated to contain 100400 billion stars.[29][30] There are likely at least 100 billion planets in
the Milky Way.[31][32] The Solar System is located within the disk, about 27,000 light-years
from the Galactic Center, on the inner edge of one of the spiral-shaped concentrations of gas
and dust called the Orion Arm. The stars in the inner 10,000 light-years form a bulge and
one or more bars that radiate from the bulge. The very center is marked by an intense radio
source, named Sagittarius A*, which is likely to be a supermassive black hole.

Stars and gases at a wide range of distances from the Galactic Center orbit at approximately
220 kilometers per second. The constant rotation speed contradicts the laws of Keplerian
dynamics and suggests that much of the mass of the Milky Way does not emit or absorb
electromagnetic radiation. This mass has been termed "dark matter".[33] The rotational period
is about 240 million years at the position of the Sun.[15] The Milky Way as a whole is moving
at a velocity of approximately 600 km per second with respect to extragalactic frames of
reference. The oldest stars in the Milky Way are nearly as old as the Universe itself and thus
likely formed shortly after the Dark Ages of the Big Bang.[9]

The Milky Way has several satellite galaxies and is part of the Local Group of galaxies,
which is a component of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself a component of the Laniakea
Supercluster.[34][35]

Named galaxies
This is a list of galaxies that are well known by something other than an entry in a catalog or
list, or a set of coordinates, or a systematic designation.

Image Galaxy Constellation Origin of name Notes

 Andromeda, which is
shortened from
"Andromeda Galaxy",
gets its name from the It is the closest big galaxy to
Andromeda Andromeda
area of the sky in which the Milky Way
it appears, the
constellation of
Andromeda.
It has a spectacular dark
band of absorbing dust
in front of the galaxy's
Black Eye Coma
Berenices bright nucleus, giving
Galaxy
rise to its nicknames of
the "Black Eye" or "Evil
Eye" galaxy.
Named for Johann Elert
Bode's
Ursa Major Bode who discovered
Galaxy
this galaxy in 1774.
Its visual appearance is
Cartwheel
Sculptor similar to that of a
Galaxy
spoked cartwheel.

Cigar Appears similar in

Ursa Major
Galaxy shape to a cigar.

This galaxy is named

The comet effect is caused
Comet after its unusual
Sculptor by tidal stripping by its
Galaxy appearance, looking like
galaxy cluster, Abell 2667.
a comet.
Galaxy Cosmos Redshift 7 is
reported to be the brightest
of distant galaxies (z > 6)
The name of this galaxy and to contain some of the
Cosmos is based on a redshift (z) earliest first stars (first
Sextans
Redshift 7 measurement of nearly generation; Population III)
7 (actually, z = 6.604).[2] that produced the chemical
elements needed for the later
formation of planets and life
as we know it.[2]
It is of the subtype Hoag-
This is named after Art type galaxy, and may in fact
Hoag's
Serpens Caput Hoag, who discovered be a polar-ring galaxy with
Object
this ring galaxy. the ring in the plane of
rotation of the central object.
Large Dorado/Mensa Named after Ferdinand This is the fourth largest
Magellanic Magellan galaxy in the Local Group,
Cloud and forms a pair with the
SMC, and from recent
 research, may not be part of
the Milky Way system of
satellites at all.
This forms a pair with the
Small LMC, and from recent
Named after Ferdinand
Magellanic Tucana research, may not be part of
Magellan
Cloud the Milky Way system of
satellites at all.
Also called VV 32 and Arp
148, this is a very peculiar
This is named after looking object, and is likely
Mayall's Nicholas Mayall, of the to be not one galaxy, but two
Ursa Major
Object Lick Observatory, who galaxies undergoing a
discovered it.[3][4][5] collision. Event in images is
a spindle shape and a ring
shape.

Pinwheel Similar in appearance to

Ursa Major
Galaxy a pinwheel (toy).

Sombrero Similar in appearance to

Virgo
Galaxy a sombrero.

Sunflower
Canes Venatici Appearance
Galaxy

The name comes from This shape resulted from

Tadpole
Draco the resemblance of the tidal interaction that drew
Galaxy
galaxy to a tadpole. out a long tidal tail.

From the whirlpool

Whirlpool appearance this
Canes Venatici
Galaxy gravitationally disturbed
galaxy exhibits.

Naked-eye galaxies
This is a list of galaxies that are visible to the naked-eye, for at the very least, keen-eyed
observers in a very dark-sky environment that is high in altitude, during clear and stable
weather.

Naked-eye Galaxies
Apparent
Galaxy Distance Constellation Notes
Magnitude
Milky Way -6.5 0 Sagittarius This is our galaxy. Most things
(excluding (centre) visible to the naked-eye in the sky
the Sun[nb 1]) are part of it, including the Milky
 Way composing the Zone of
Avoidance.[6]
Large Visible only from the southern
160 kly
Magellanic 0.9 Dorado/Mensa hemisphere. It is also the brightest
(50 kpc)
Cloud patch of nebulosity in the sky.[6][7][8]
Small
Magellanic 200 kly Visible only from the southern
2.7 Tucana
Cloud (NGC (60 kpc) hemisphere.[6][9]
292)
Andromeda Once called the Great Andromeda
2.5 Mly
Galaxy (M31, 3.4 Andromeda Nebula, it is situated in the
(780 kpc)
NGC 224) Andromeda constellation.[6][10]
Being a diffuse object, its visibility is
strongly affected by even small
Triangulum amounts of light pollution, ranging
2.9 Mly
Galaxy (M33, 5.7 Triangulum from easily visible in direct vision in
(900 kpc)
NGC 598) truly dark skies to a difficult averted
vision object in rural/suburban skies.
[11]

13.7
Centaurus A has been spotted with
Centaurus A 0.9 Mly
6.84 Centaurus the naked eye by Stephen James
(NGC 5128) (4.2
O'Meara.[12]
0.3 Mpc)
Highly experienced amateur
Bode's Galaxy
12 Mly astronomers may be able to see
(M81, NGC 6.94 Ursa Major
(3.6 Mpc) Messier 81 under exceptional
3031)
observing conditions.[13][14][15]
According to Brian A. Skiff, the
11.4
Sculptor naked-eye visibility of this galaxy is
0.7 Mly
Galaxy (NGC 8.0 Sculptor discussed in an old Sky & Telescope
(3.5
253) letter or note from the late 1960s or
0.2 Mpc)
early 1970s.[16]
Messier 83 14.7 Mly M83 has reportedly been seen with
8.2 Hydra
(NGC 5236) (4.5 Mpc) the naked eye.[17]