Earth is in a system called the solar system or solar system and our solar system is located in a part called the Milky Way galaxy.
The universe is not only the Milky Way galaxy, there are an estimated 200 billion galaxies scattered in the universe according to scientists. This is a very large number.
A galaxy is a collection of stars that are interconnected and bound by gravity to form a massive system which is called a galaxy. It turns out that galaxies and other galaxies are connected and bound together because of strong gravitational fields, so this collection of galaxies that are bound together is called a galaxy group.
1. The largest galaxy in the locale group, Andromeda
Andromeda Galaxy (youtube.com/SEA)
You may be familiar with the name Andromeda. This is because the Andromeda galaxy is a galaxy that has a distance of about 2.5 million light years from Earth. Because of this close enough distance, the Andromeda galaxy is predicted to collide with the Milky Way galaxy in about 4 billion years, after the collision between Andromeda and the Milky Way it will create a new galaxy called Milkomeda.
The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of approximately 220,000 light years, which is twice as large as the Milky Way, which is 105,700 light years in diameter. Because it is relatively close and has a larger diameter than the Milky Way, we can see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye on clear nights and without any light pollution.
2. The third largest galaxy in the locale group, Triangulum
Galaxy Triangle (youtube.com/SEA)
The Triangulum Galaxy is one of the three largest galaxies in the local group and is in the constellation Triangulum. The Triangulum Galaxy has a diameter of about 50,000 light years and is 3 million light years from Earth, this is the farthest distance that can still be seen with the naked eye even though the Triangulum galaxy looks dim in a clear night sky.
The Triangulum galaxy is steadily approaching the Milky Way galaxy at about 62,000 miles/hour. According to the European Southern Observatory, the Triangulum galaxy is gravitationally trapped by the Andromeda galaxy and because of this it is also approaching the Milky Way galaxy as the Andromeda galaxy is doing.
Scientists say that the Triangulum galaxy is a beautiful but scary galaxy because this galaxy is the birthplace of massive stars. In addition, in the Triangulum galaxy there is a gas cloud that has more than 200 blue stars and is more than 1,300 light years wide or about 100 times larger than the Orion Nebula.
3. Magellanic Cloud
Galaksi Magellan (youtube.com/European Southern Obervatory)
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The Magellanic Galaxy is a dwarf galaxy which is a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy and is about 163,000 light years from Earth. Because of this close distance, the Magellan galaxy is considered a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy.
There are 2 types of Magellanic Galaxies, Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The LMC has a diameter of about 14,000 light years while the SMC has a diameter of about 7,000 light years.
The Magellan galaxy has an irregular shape and tends to change, this is known when the Magellan galaxy crosses the Milky Way galaxy. This happens because the Milky Way’s large gravitational force causes the shape of the star cloud to be distorted and causes its shape to become irregular.
4. Dwarf starburst galaxy, IC 10
Galaxy IC 10 (youtube.com/David Butler)
This irregular and dwarf galaxy is called the IC 10 galaxy which has a diameter of 5,000 light years smaller than the Small Magellan Cloud galaxy which has a diameter of 7,000 light years. The distance between Earth and IC 10 is about 2.2 million light years and it is located in the northern constellation Cassiopeia.
The IC 10 galaxy produces stars in a relatively short time and currently the C 10 galaxy produces stars with a mass of 0.4-0.8 times the mass of the sun per year. Astronomers discovered a massive black hole in this galaxy with a mass 24-33 times that of the sun.
Despite all the discoveries and various mysteries in the IC 10 galaxy, astronomers find it difficult to study it further because the IC 10 galaxy has a similar luminosity to SMC and is heavily covered by interstellar material.
Also Read: Scientists Find a Single Galaxy, It Turns Out to be a Former Cannibal!
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