spelled with a lower-case g, galaxy means any of millions of stellar systems once called "island universes" or extragalactic nebulae. Depending on their form, galaxies may be called spirals, barred spirals, ellipticals, or irregulars. Spelled with a capital G, Galaxy refers to that particular stellar system which includes our Sun and all the stars visible to the naked eye. The Milky Way is our view of the Galaxy.
Vast islands of stars, gas, and dust that populate the universe by the billions. Galactic size and structure range from subtle ellipticals to grand pinwheel spirals with the mass of at least 100 billion stars. Instead of randomly scattered throughout the universe, galaxies clump together in web-like structures, or cosmic foam. Despite immense luminosity, dark matter prevails as the primary galactic mass component.
A huge collection of gases, dust, and hundreds of millions of stars. Our solar system belongs to the Milky Way Galaxy.
Huge regions of space that contain hundreds of billions of stars, together with planets, glowing nebulae, gas and dust.
A large grouping of stars, galaxies may have 10 billion stars in them. And there may be as many as ten billion galaxies in the Universe. Our own galaxy is named the Milky Way, and is a spiral galaxy. Although there are many close dwarf galaxies, the nearest full sized galaxy is named the Andromeda galaxy.
a huge collection of gas, dust, and stars in space. Our own galaxy is called the Milky Way.
A system of billions of stars, gas and dust that has coalesced to form a huge body. Ex. The Milky Way galaxy.
Grouping of billions of stars, gas, and dust, such as the Milky Way galaxy.
One of billions of large systems of stars and gas, held together by gravity, that make up the universe.
A large group of stars; The galaxy of which the nearby starsand Sun are members.
A galaxy is a massive cluster of stars, bound together by gravity. Galaxies come in different types: spiral, elliptical and irregular. The Milky Way is the spiral galaxy in which we live containing about 10 billion stars.
A colossal collection of billions of stars and interstellar matter, held together loosely by their mutual gravity, and often spread over about a hundred thousand light-years; the Milky Way is one such Galaxy, and is capitalized (G) when referred to as such.
one of nearly a million million large collections of stars each typically containing nearly a million million stars
A galaxy is a huge group of stars and other celestial bodies bound together by gravitational forces. There are spiral, elliptical, and irregularly shaped galaxies. Our Sun and solar system are a small part of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Vast star systems containing thousands of billions of stars, dust and gas, held together by gravity. There are three main classes of galaxies: elliptical, spiral and barred, named after their appearance. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.
A large gravitationally bound cluster of stars that all orbit around a common center. Galaxies are basic building blocks of the universe.
any of the large assemblages of stars and associated matter found throughout the universe. Galaxy (with uppercase "G") refers to the Milky Way. [See also nebula
A large collection of billions of stars. Our galaxy is the Milky Way, and the Earth is roughly 4/5 of the way out from the center to the edge of the galaxy.
a massive grouping of gas, dust, and stars in space held together by gravity
A huge assembly of stars (between millions and hundreds of millions) held together by gravity.
A large group of stars. Manmade Satellite Our galaxy (called the Milky Way) includes the Sun.
A huge collection of millions, billions, or trillions of stars, plus interstellar gas and dust, held together by their mutual gravity.
typically huge group of hundreds of thousands of stars with many groups containing hundreds of billions or more stars. Stars are gravitationally bound and often distributed over many thousands of light years. Includes several types with a wide variety of forms including spirals ( normal, and barred, SB), lenticular ( S0), elliptical () and irregular (). (Other classifications schemes exist.) Formerly galaxies were confused with nebulae. Subsequently the term extragalatic nebula was used for galaxies but this term has become obsolete. (Galaxies have also been called " Island Universes.")
a splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)
(astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust; "`extragalactic nebula' is a former name for `galaxy'"
a cluster of billions of stars
a cluster of stars, dust, and gas which is held together by gravity
a collection of (a, an) huge number of stars
a collection of a huge number of stars that are rotating around a common center or axis
a collection of gas and stars held together by gravity
a collection of many millions or billions of
a collection of stars, dust, planetary bodies, etc
a collection of stars, gas and dust along w/ associated starlight, magnetic fields and cosmic rays
a collection of stars, gas and dust bound together by their common gravitational pull
a collection of stars that rotate together
a collection of trillions of stars, dust and gas
a collection of typically a hundred billion stars, each separated by huge regions of nearly empty space
a congregation of stars held together by gravity
a dense grouping of stars , held together by powerful gravitational attraction usually caused by a Super-massive Black Hole that unxeplicable switches "on" and "off" at will
a family of stars, held together by their mutual gravitational attraction, and with a distinct identity separating it from other galaxies
a fuzzy patch that is actually a very distant system of stars, clusters and nebulae
a gigantic mass of stars held together by gravity
a grouping of millions of stars that are rotating around a center
a group of millions/thousands of millions/ millions of millions of stars
a huge mass of stars and dust with upwards of several million stars
a large clump of dark matter that gathers up gas and dust, which in turn occasionally condenses into stars
a large cluster of stars held together by gravity
a large collection of stars all orbiting a common central point
a large collection of stars, glowing nebulae (clouds), gas, and dust bound together by gravity
a large gravitationally bound system of stars, interstellar gas
a large system of one million to one trillion stars along with dust and gases
a luminous band of light encircling the heavens and consisting of numberless stars
a massive gathering of stars
a massive system of stars, dust and gas held together by their mutual gravity
a mini-universe that can contain hundreds of billions of stars
an aggregation of hundreds of thousands to billions of stars
an aggregation of stars, dust, and gas which, more or less, form a discernable structure
an enormous collection of a few million to trillions of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity
an enormous collection of gas, dust and billions of stars held together by gravity
an enormous group of stars
an enormous stellar agglomerate, containing from some million to some hundred milliards of stars, together with big clouds of gases and dusts
an example of something which normally does not have approximate spherical symmetry since they tend to be disk shaped spirals
an immense cloud of millions to hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions of stars
an island of billions of stars, separated from other galaxies by a vast ocean of almost empty space
an island of stars, gas and dust, floating in space
an organized concentration or clumping of stars held together by mutual gravitational interaction in an aggregate containing billions of discrete individual stellar objects organized into varying shapes/structures
an organized system of hundreds of millions to thousands of billions of stars, sometimes mixed with interstellar gas and dust
a system of stars, containing hundreds of billions or even trillions of them
a vast collection of billions of stars orbiting about a common center of mass
a vast island of hundreds of billions of stars (solar systems), nebulas and star clusters
see related section] one of billions of systems each including stars, nebulae, star clusters, globular clusters, and interstellar matter that make up the universe.
A collection of stars orbiting around a common center. Galaxies also contain star clusters, hydrogen gas, and cosmic rays
Universe with only one world
(capitalized): The spiral galaxy containing our solar system and all of the stars visible to the naked eye, often referred to as the Milky Way.
A large body of gas, dust, stars, and their companions held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. They are grouped into three main categories: spiral galaxies; elliptical galaxies, containing mostly older stars, which range in shape from spherical to "football" shaped; and irregular galaxies, which, as their name implies, are irregularly-shaped and generally smaller in size. Another class of galaxies is peculiar galaxies, which are thought to be distorted normal galaxies.
A system of stars, their planetary systems (if any) dust, and gas held together by gravitation. They come in various shapes, and typically contain billions of stars and are thousands of lightyears across. There are billions of galaxies in the universe. The Milky Way is the galaxy in which our solar system is located. The Milky Way has a spiral shape, and our solar system is located in one of the spiral arms. The Milky Way contains approximately 100 billion stars and is about a hundred thousand light years across. It takes the Milky Way about 200 million years to rotate once on its axis, even though it is rotating at about 600,000 miles per hour (260 kilometers per second).
a group of stars, usually numbering in the billions, that orbit a common mass and travel through the universe as a single unit. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
A galaxy is a accumulation of stars and gas that is held together by gravity. The gravitational pull within a galaxy is stronger than the force of the Hubble Expansion, so the elements of a galaxy to not expand away from each other. Galaxies can be spiral-shaped, elliptical, or irregular.
The structure formed by as assembly of thousands of millions of stars together with gas and dust. Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy. Galaxies may be described as elliptical, irregular or spiral. Our Galaxy is just one among many millions.
a group of hundreds of billions of stars held in a cluster by gravity. Earth's sun is one of the stars in a spiral-shaped galaxy called the Milky Way galaxy.
Our own Milky Way when capitalized but the term is used generically in the plural, without caps, to describe similar stellar systems.
The self-contained aggregate of stars, nebulas, gases, and dust of which the sun and its planets are members. The galaxy is one of billions of such systems, also called galaxies, which collectively compose the metagalaxy.
A vast concentration of millions or billions of stars. There are four main types of galaxies: Elliptical Galaxies, Lenticular galaxies, Spiral Galaxies and Irregular galaxies. Our galaxy contains 200 billion stars, but the largest galaxies contain many trillions. See also Dwarf Galaxy.
We live in a Galaxy (spelt with a capital "G" to denote our galaxy) called the Milky Way. This is a large cluster of stars all orbiting about a similar point - well ok, its a bit more complicated than that, but hey! They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, ours is called a "spiral galaxy".
Gravitationally bound collection of a large number of stars. The Sun is a star in the Milky Way Galaxy. [More Info: Field Guide
Giant collections of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity. An average galaxy contains 100 billion stars. Galaxies range from 1,500 to 300,000 light years across. Our sun (and solar system) is in a galaxy that we call the "Milky Way". It is shaped like a spiral, with several arms coming off a central bulge (called the core). When we see the bright band of stars across the night sky (especially easy to see in the summer) we are seeing one of the arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Galaxies come in different shapes than spirals. Some are oval or round ("elliptical") and some are "irregular" in shape.
A very large system of stars, gas and dust isolated from its neighbors by an immensity of space; an "island universe".
A huge conglomeration of billions of stars. Our Sun is part of the Milky Way galaxy.
a gravitationally bound collection of millions or billions of stars, gas, and dust
A vast collection of stars, sometimes structured and sometimes not.
Vast star systems containing thousands of billions of stars, dust and gas, held together by gravity. Galaxies are the basic building blocks of the Universe. There are three main classes, Elliptical, Spiral and Barred, named after their appearance.
A massive, gravitationally-bound assembly of stars, interstellar clouds, and dark matter.
Any of numerous large-scale aggregates of stars, gas, and dust, having one of a gorup of more or less definite orverall structures, containing an average of 100 billion solar masses, and ranging in diameter from 1,500 to 300,000 light-years.
A system of about 100 billion stars. Our Sun is a member of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is sometimes just designated by capitalization: Galaxy. There are billions of galaxies in the observable universe. Exactly when and how galaxies formed in the Universe is a topic of current astronomical research.
A giant collection of stars, gas, and dust. Most stars in the universe are in galaxies. Nearly all of the stars visible in the night sky are within our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Most of the objects that are visible outside of our galaxy are other galaxies.
A large system of millions to hundreds of billions of stars; sometimes containing large amounts of dust and gas. Our Galaxy is called the Milky Way.
an enormous gravitationally bound assemblage of millions or billions of stars
a component of our Universe made up of gas and a large number (usually more than a million) of stars held together by gravity.
A large grouping of stars. Galaxies are found in a variety of sizes and shapes. Our own Milky Way galaxy is spiral in shape and contains several billion stars. Some galaxies are so distant the their light takes millions of years to reach the Earth.
A huge collection of stars often many thousands of millions and associated dust and gas. Galaxies are separated from each other by enormous stretches of empty space. They may be spiral in shape (like a Catherine wheel), elliptical (like a football), or irregular. The galaxy we live in is referred to as the Galaxy (or sometimes, the Milky Way Galaxy): it is a spiral galaxy, about a hundred thousand light-years in diameter.
A large group of stars held together by its own gravity. Back to top of the page
Before the resolution of the `Great Debate', this referred to our own Milky Way galaxy. Since the resolution of the `Great Debate', it is taken to mean a large group of stars seen external to our galaxy. Galaxies typically have about 10^11 stars. We also now capitalize Galaxy when referring to our own Milky Way galaxy.
a huge mix of gas, dust, stars, planets and other objects that are held together by their own gravity.
A large assemblage of stars; a typical galaxy contains millions to hundreds of billions of stars.
The galaxy to which the Sun and our neighboring stars belong; the Milky Way is light from remote stars in the disk of the Galaxy.
A large group of solar systems, stars, nebulae and other celestial bodies bound together by gravitational forces. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy.
An aggregation of billions of stars moving under mutual gravity; the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy and there are other types.
A group of a million to a thousand billion stars that are bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction. Milky Way Center
A large group of stars, gas, and dust held together by mutual gravitational attraction.
A galaxy is a large group of stars, gas and dust all gravitationally bound together. Our galaxy, the Milky Way appears to be a rather large spiral galaxy with several billion stars in it. Galaxies appear in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from tiny little ones that orbit our galaxy, to massive elliptical galaxies, like those at the centre of the Virgo cluster.
a set of billions of stars, held together by the reciprocal gravitational attraction. Galaxies are the bricks that constitute the Universe. They can be single galaxies, or they can be gathered in groups and clusters. On average, their diameters measure one billion billions of Km, and they can contain from 1 to 1000 billion stars. There are many kinds of galaxies: elliptical, spiral, irregular.
an "island universe" of billions of stars
A large group of stars, gas, and dust containing an average of 100 billion stars and ranging from 1,500 and 300,000 light years in diameter. Here is an example (not taken here) of M101 which is a spiral galaxy. There are other types of galaxies including elliptical and barred spirals. Spiral (M101) Elliptical Barred Spiral
A huge assembly of stars (between one hundred and one million), plus gas and dust, which is held together by gravity; the Galaxy, our own galaxy, containing the Sun.
A huge collection of stars, gas and dust measuring many light years across.
a very large cluster of stars (tens of millions to trillions of stars) gravitationally bound together.
System containing up to billions of stars connected by gravity. The solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy (p.86-87).
One of billions of systems, each including stars, nebulae, clusters of stars, gas and dust that make up the universe.
One of the billions of huge cosmic systems, each composed of innumerable stars, planets, etc. Members of a galaxy revolve as a unit around a common point in space. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy.
Any of the very large groups of stars and associated matter that are found throughout the universe.
A large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space.
A large collection of stars and clusters of stars containing anywhere from a few million to a few trillion stars.
A Galaxy is a collection of millions of stars and debris in space.
a vast collection of stars, gas, and dust, typically 10,000 to 100,000 light-years in diameter and containing billions of stars.
A collection of stars gas and dust. There are many different types but they can be broadly grouped into 3 main categories - spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies and irregular galaxies. When written with a capital 'G', it refers to our own galaxy, often called "the Milky Way". The Universe is populated with galaxies. There is very little intergalactic (between galaxies) matter.
A collection of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. The smallest galaxies may contain only a few hundred thousand stars, while the largest galaxies have thousands of billions of stars. The Milky Way galaxy contains our solar system.
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and dark matter. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (107) stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting a common center of gravity. Galaxies can also contain a large number of multiple star systems and star clusters as well as various types of interstellar clouds.