The Universe

Section 2

Section 2: The Milky Way and Other

Galaxies
Key Ideas
What is a galaxy and what is it made of?
Why are galaxies divided into three major types?
How do scientists know that galaxies change over time?

The Universe

Section 2

Fun Fact
The word galaxy comes from the Greek word for milk, and
the star-rich region of our own galaxy has long been called
the Milky Way. Other galaxies, before they were recognized
as containing stars, were called nebulas, from the Latin
word for clouds.
What do you think was the reason these starry regions
were described in these terms?

The Universe

Section 2

Galaxies
What is a galaxy and what is it made of?
a collection of millions to billions of stars, dust, and gas
bound together by gravity

Gravity holds galaxies together in clusters.

The Universe

Section 2

Visual Concept: Contents of Galaxies

Click the button below to watch the Visual Concept.

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Section 2

Types of Galaxies, continued

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.
Spiraling disk with several arms
Our solar system is located within a spiral arm.
Nucleus has old, dense stars.
The gas and dust located between stars is called
interstellar matter.

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Types of Galaxies, continued

Elliptical galaxies have no spiral arms.
Spherical or egg shaped.
They contain mostly older stars and have little
interstellar matter.
Because older stars are red, elliptical galaxies often
have a reddish color.

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Types of Galaxies, continued

All other galaxies are irregular galaxies.
Lack regular shapes and do not have a well-defined
structure.
Some may be oddly shaped because the gravitational
influence of nearby galaxies distorts their spiral arms.

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How Galaxies Change Over Time,

continued
Quasars may be infant galaxies.
In 1960, a faint object was matched with a strong
radio signal. This object was called a quasar.
Each quasar has a huge central black hole and a
large disk of gas and dust around it.
quasar: quasi-stellar radio sources; very luminous
objects that produce energy at a high rate and that are
thought to be the most distant objects in the universe

The Universe

Section 2

Visual Concept: Quasar

Click the icon to play the audio

The Universe

Section 2

How Galaxies Change Over Time

Evolve, continued
Galaxies change over time.
Galaxies use up their stores of gas and dust.
Galaxies change as a result of collisions.
As galaxies approach each other, mutual gravitational
attraction changes their shape.
Collisions of gas and dust may cause new stars to
begin forming.