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THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

Explore our home galaxy, the Milky Way, through a visible light photograph captured by the COBE satellite. Discover the vastness and intricate structure of this spiral galaxy, spanning 100,000 light years, containing billions of stars held together by gravity. Learn about the three main parts of the galaxy - the disk, central bulge, and halo - as well as the presence of dark matter and a supermassive black hole at its center. Gain insight into the extraordinary number of galaxies in the universe and the possibilities of finding other star systems capable of supporting life.

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THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

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  1. THE MILKY WAY GALAXY VISIBLE LIGHT PHOTOGRAPH

  2. INFRARED PHOTO OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY BY THE COBE SATELLITE

  3. OUR HOME GALAXY IS A SPIRAL GALAXY OF ROUGHLY 200 BILLION STARS HELD TOGETHER BY GRAVITY. IT IS 100,000 LIGHT YEARS ACROSS. OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS APPROXIMATELY 28,000 LIGHT YEARS FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER. IF YOU LOOK UP AT THE NIGHT SKY, YOU CAN’T SEE THE GALACTIC CENTER BECAUSE OF CLOUDS OF DUST BETWEEN US AND THE GALACTIC CENTER. OUR SOLAR SYSTEM TAKES ABOUT 200 MILLION YEARS TO ORBIT THE GALACTIC CENTER.

  4. THE MILKY WAY GALAXY CONSISTS OF THREE PARTS: THE DISK WHICH CONTAINS STARS AND DUST THE CENTRAL BULGE A HALO OF OLDER STARS

  5. THERE IS MATERIAL IN THE HALO THAT IS NOT VISIBLE. THIS MATERIAL DOMINATES THE MASS OF THE GALAXY SCIENTISTS REFER TO THIS AS DARK MATTER. THE STARS THAT ARE PART OF THE HALO ARE SOME OF THE OLDEST STARS IN THE GALAXY AND ARE BETWEEN 10 AND 15 BILLION YEARS OLD.

  6. OCCUPYING THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY IS A SUPER MASSIVE BLACK HOLE. A BLACK HOLE IS AN OBJECT SO MASSIVE AND SO SMALL THAT NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN EXCAPE ITS GRAVITY. SCIENTISTS LOCATED THE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY AND ESTIMATE THAT ITS MASS IS 2.6 MILLION SOLAR MASSES. THEY NAMED IT SAGITTARIUS A*.

  7. THERE ARE MANY GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE - SCIENTISTS ESTIMATE 200 BILLION. IF EACH GALAXY CONTAINS 100 BILLION STARS, THAT’S AN ALMOST UNIMAGINABLE NUMBER. SURELY THERE MUST BE STARS OUT THERE SIMILAR TO OUR OWN THAT HAVE PLANETS THAT CAN SUPPORT LIFE.

  8. GALAXIES COME IN MANY FLAVORS. SPIRAL GALAXIES LENTICULAR GALAXIES - LIKE SPIRAL GALAXIES THAT HAVE LOST THEIR ARMS - THESE ARE OLDER GALAXIES 3) ELIPITICAL GALAXIES - DO NOT ROTATE

  9. 4) IRREGULAR GALAXIES - STRANGE SHAPES - GENERALLY WHEN GALAXIES COLLIDE

  10. THE NEAREST STARS TO US ARE ALPHA CENTAURI – A STAR SYSTEM. IT CONSISTS OF THREE STARS – PROXIMA CENTAURI IS THE CLOSEST AT 4.22 LIGHT YEARS. THEN, THERE IS A BINARY SYSTEM – ALPHA CENTAURI A AND B, WHICH IS 4.35 LIGHT YEARS AWAY. ALPHA CENTAURI A AND B ARE SEPARATED ONLY BY 23 au.

  11. REVIEW OF DISTANCES 1 ASTRONOMICAL UNIT = 93,000,000 MILES 1 LIGHT YEAR = 9.46 X 1012 KM = 5.9 X 1012 MI. VOYAGER SPACE CRAFT IS TRAVELING AT 17.3 KM/SEC. AT THIS RATE, IT WOULD TAKE 73,000 YEARS TO REACH PROXIMA CENTAURI. NOTE: YOU CAN’T TRAVEL FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

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