The Milky Way Galaxy Overview

What shape is the Milky Way galaxy?

The closest known galaxy to the Milky Way is the Andromeda Galaxy.

How many stars are estimated to be in the Milky Way?

Galaxies are made from stellar dust, gas, stars, and _____ held together by gravity.

Match the following types of galaxies with their descriptions:

How many galaxies do scientists estimate exist in the Universe?

The Earth is traveling through a cloud of stellar dust.

What is the estimated mass of the Milky Way compared to the Sun?

The Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is the galaxy Earth is in.
It appears as a band across the night sky.
This is because Earth is inside a spiral galaxy, and we only view one arm.
Many of the stars visible at night are in the Milky Way.
Scientists estimate 250,000,000 stars exist in the Milky Way.

Galaxy Shapes

Galaxies have different shapes.
The Milky Way has a spiral shape.
Elliptical and irregular galaxies are other types.
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, an elliptical one, is the closest known galaxy to the Milky Way.
It is approximately 240,000 million million km away.

Galaxy Composition

Galaxies are made up of stellar dust, gas, stars, and solar systems held together by gravity.
Stellar dust is interstellar dust found in space.
Earth travels through a cloud with an estimated one dust particle per million cubic meters.
The Milky Way has a tremendous mass.
The Milky Way has a mass estimated to be 1.5 trillion times that of the Sun.
It would take greater than 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way at light speed (300,000 km/s).

Number of Galaxies

Scientists have estimated around 100 billion galaxies in the Universe.
These are estimates, and there could be more or less depending on the Universe's total volume.

Explore the fascinating features of the Milky Way Galaxy, including its structure, shape, and composition. This quiz delves into the characteristics that define our galaxy, such as its spiral shape and the materials that comprise it. Test your knowledge about the stars and components that make up the Milky Way.