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Astronomy & Space vocabulary · Galaxies & Deep Sky

Galaxy

Meaning in astronomy & space, with examples

/ˈɡæləksi/nounCore term

In astronomy & space, galaxy means: An enormous system of stars, gas, dust and dark matter held together by gravity. A large galaxy can contain hundreds of billions of stars.

In Turkish: gökada, galaksi

How it is used

Astronomers classify galaxies by shape: spiral, elliptical and irregular. They talk about galaxies forming, merging and colliding. With a capital G, 'the Galaxy' sometimes means our own Milky Way.

Example sentences

  1. The telescope captured light from a galaxy that formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

  2. Our galaxy and Andromeda are moving towards each other.

Common collocations

  • spiral galaxy
  • distant galaxy
  • dwarf galaxy
  • galaxy cluster
  • galaxy merger
  • Milky WayThe barred spiral galaxy that contains our solar system and a few hundred billion stars. It also names the pale band of light it forms across a dark night sky.
  • spiral galaxyA flat, rotating galaxy with a bright central bulge and arms that curve outwards like a pinwheel. The arms are rich in young stars, gas and dust.
  • elliptical galaxyA galaxy with a smooth, oval or round shape and no spiral arms. It contains mostly old, reddish stars and very little gas for making new ones.
  • Andromeda GalaxyThe nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, about 2.5 million light-years away. Under dark skies it can be seen with the naked eye as a faint smudge.
  • star clusterA group of stars born from the same cloud and held together by gravity. Open clusters are loose and young; globular clusters are dense balls of very old stars.

More terms: Galaxies & Deep Sky

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