the milky way’s neighborhood

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THE MILKY WAY’S NEIGHBORHOOD BRYAN NOZALEDA

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Page 1: The milky way’s neighborhood

THE MILKY WAY’S NEIGHBORHOOD

BRYAN NOZALEDA

Page 2: The milky way’s neighborhood

What other galaxies are near the Milky Way galaxy?

“Near” is a relative term when it comes to galaxies. Within a few million light-years of the Milky Way are several dozen galaxies that make up the Local Group. Some of those galaxies, such as the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, are almost in physical contact with the Milky Way’s outskirts.

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What is the largest galaxy in the Local Group?

The Andromeda galaxy, which is slightly larger than the Milky Way, is the largest galaxy in the Local Group. Andromeda is also known as Messier 31, or M31, because it is the thirty-first object listed in the famous catalog of night-sky objects compiled by Charles Messier in 1774.

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When was Andromeda discovered?

According to French astronomer Charles Messier, who put the great nebula in Andromeda as the thirty-first object in his famous Messier catalog, the first European astronomer who discovered Andromeda was Simon Marius. Marius observed the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope in 1612; he was probably the first person to do so. According to non- European records, however, the ancient Persian astronomer Al-Sufi observed the Andromeda galaxy as early as 905 C.E. without the aid of a telescope. Al-Sufi called it the “little cloud.”

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How similar is the Andromeda galaxy to our own?

The Andromeda galaxy shares many characteristics with the Milky Way. It is a large spiral galaxy, like the Milky Way; it appears to be roughly the same age as the Milky Way; and it contains many of the same types of objects as the Milky Way, including a supermassive black hole at its center. Andromeda is somewhat larger than the Milky Way

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What other galaxies populate the Local Group of galaxies?

The largest of these Local Group dwarf galaxies are the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, which orbit the Milky Way, and Messier 32 and Messier 33, which orbit Andromeda. Other wellknown Local Group dwarfs include IC 10, NGC 205, NGC 6822, and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The table below lists some of the Local Group galaxies.

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What important astronomical event occurred recently in the Large Magellanic Cloud?

On February 23, 1987, Supernova 1987A appeared in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was discovered almost immediately by two astronomers, Ian Shelton and Oscar Duhalde, at Las Campañas Observatory in Chile.

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What is the Large Magellanic Cloud?

The Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC, is the largest dwarf galaxy that orbits our own Milky Way galaxy. It is an irregular disk galaxy that is similar in shape to the Milky Way, and we see it sort of edge on, so it looks like an oblong-shaped cigar to viewers on Earth. The LMC is about 30,000 light-years across and 170,000 light-years away from Earth. It is named after the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who in 1519 was the first European to record its existence.

Page 12: The milky way’s neighborhood

What is the SmallMagellanic Cloud?

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), like its bigger compatriot the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), is a small irregular galaxy that orbits the Milky Way galaxy. It is a roughly disk-shaped galaxy about 20,000 light-years across and about 200,000 light-years away.

Page 13: The milky way’s neighborhood

Located in the

Small Magellanic Cloud, N81 is a cluster ofabout 50 stars within a mere 10 light-year distance of oneanother. Such unusual phenomena within both the Largeand Small Magellanic Clouds make them irregular galaxies.