Milky Way Galaxy
By:Sadira L.
Basic Information
The Milky Way Galaxy is one of the many galaxies our universe has. The Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral galaxy. It is made of star clusters, nebulas, an uncounted amount of planets, about 200 billion stars, and many other things. The galaxy from edge to edge is about 100,000 light years. The galaxy was formed after the Big Bang Theory. Clouds of gas and dust formed together and other smaller galaxies collided together to form the galaxy. Our galaxy is about 13 billion years old.
Name
The Milky Way has had many names such as Milky Circle, Milky Road, Via Lactea. The name Via Lactea translated into the road of milk. Most of the names included something about milk because bands in the sky of the galaxy looked like spilt milk. The name Milky Way came from the Greeks.
Other Information
The Milky Way has many parts that form the galaxy. The parts are the arms, nucleus, disk, halo, and globular clusters. The Milky way has two major arms, two smaller arms, two minor arms. We live in a minor arm called Orion Spur. The halo is made out of hot gas, old stars, and globular clusters. In the center of the Milky Way Galaxy there a huge black hole named Sagittarius A*.
How It Ends
The Milky Way Galaxy is always moving in space. In about 4 billion years our galaxy will collide with another bigger galaxy named Andromeda. The collision will last about 3.75 billion years. It will then form an Elliptical Galaxy. Our solar system is predicted to survive the collusion.
Milky Way Versus Andromeda As Seen from Earth
Sources
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