Page 118 - DK Children's Encyclopedia
P. 118

Galaxies                                                                          SEE ALSO

                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Gases  p.117
                                                                                               ▸ ▸ Milky Way  p.167
           Galaxies are enormous groups of stars, planets, dust, and                           ▸ ▸ Physics  p.192
           gas that are held together by the force of gravity. They                            ▸ ▸ Shapes  p.222
           come in different sizes and shapes, including spiral,                               ▸ ▸ Stars  p.242

           elliptical, and irregular.                                                          ▸ ▸ Universe  p.263






                                                                                    Spiral galaxy
       New stars form
       in the spiral                                                                Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped with
       arms.                                                                          spiral arms. They are the most
                                                                                          common type of galaxy. On
                                                                                              average, they contain
                                                                                                  more than 100 billion
                                                                                                     stars. Our Milky
                                                                                                        Way is a spiral
                                                                                                           galaxy.

















             Scientist think
            that galaxies are
            mostly made of
            a material called
           “dark matter,”          All stars
          which we can’t see.      rotate around
                                   the center of                                                         The middle of the
                                   the galaxy.                                                           galaxy bulges
                                                                                                         outward.


       Elliptical galaxy                                       Irregular galaxy
       Elliptical galaxies are                                 Small galaxies that do
       rounded in shape, and                                   not have a clear structure
       are usually made up of                                  are known as irregular
       older stars. They are                                   galaxies. These may be
       generally larger than                                   created by two galaxies
       spiral galaxies. Elliptical                             colliding. They contain
       galaxies contain lots of                                lots of young stars,
       stars but little gas or dust.                           dust, and gas.





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