Galaxies CHAPTER 4 SECTION 3

Milky Way galaxy  The Sun and our solar system are located in the Milky Way galaxy.  Milky Way is shaped like a disk with a bulge in the middle.  Earth and the solar system is located in the disk part.  This means that you can see part of the galaxy’s edge

Appearance of galaxies  Galaxies vary in size and shape  Some contain as little as a hundred million stars.  Larger galaxies contain more than a trillion stars.  There are 3 main shapes of galaxies.

Shapes (types of galaxies)  Spiral – has arms of dust and gas that curve away from the center in a spiral pattern

Shapes  Elliptical – sphere or egg shaped  There is almost no dust or gas between stars

Shapes  Irregular – no definite shape  Smaller than other galaxies and have fewer stars

Brain Pop

Center of galaxies  A black hole is usually located at the center of most galaxies.