Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what’s really out there? Beyond the stars we see, there’s an entire galaxy—actually, millions of them—each filled with stars, planets, and mysteries we’re only beginning to understand. Let’s break down everything you need to know about galaxies, including ours: the Milky Way.

What is a Galaxy?

A galaxy is a massive system of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter held together by gravity. Galaxies can contain billions to trillions of stars, and they come in different shapes and sizes. There are three main types of galaxies we use to categorize them.

• Spiral Galaxies- like the Milky Way these have swirling arms and a bright center.
• Elliptical Galaxies- round or oval-shaped, often older and full of older stars.
• Irregular Galaxies- no real shape there chaotic, weird, and cool-looking.

Image Credit: Bryan Goff from Unsplash

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The Milky Way Galaxy

We live in the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy that looks like a glowing pinwheel from far away. Some facts about it are:

• It's about 100,000 light-years wide.
• It holds over 100 billion stars, including our Sun.
• We’re located in a small arm called the Orion Arm, about halfway from the center.
• It takes our solar system about 225 million years to orbit the galaxy once. That’s called a galactic year.

Fun fact? When you see that hazy band of stars stretching across the sky—that’s the actual Milky Way!

What's Inside a Galaxy?

• Stars- like our Sun
• Solar systems -planets, moons, asteroids, comets
• Nebulas- massive clouds of gas and dust where stars are born
• Black holes- especially supermassive ones in the center of most galaxies
• Dark matter- an invisible force scientists are still trying to figure out, it makes up most of the galaxy!

How Many Galaxies Are There?

With powerful telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope, we’ve learned there are at least two trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Let that sink in.

And each one has its own stars, planets, possibly even life forms. Which I think is amazingly cool!

How Do We Study Galaxies?

We can’t visit galaxies (yet), but we study them using:

Telescopes on Earth and in space. Spectroscopy, breaking light into colors to learn what stars and gases are made of. And Simulations using supercomputers.

Scientists also listen for signals like radio waves and track how galaxies move to understand dark matter and the shape of the universe.

The Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth and takes detailed pictures of objects in the sky, such as planets, stars, and galaxies. It helps scientists get a better understanding of galaxies, it also is how we know what galaxies look like!

Image Credit: Vincentiu Solomon from Unsplash

Why Do Galaxies Matter?

Now, I know you're going "Cool but why do Galaxies matter?" well galaxies tell the story of the universe: How stars and planets form, how life might exist elsewhere, what dark matter and energy are, and where we’re headed as a species.

They’re not just science, they’re wonder. Galaxies are reminders that the universe is way bigger, older, and more mysterious than we can fully imagine. Personally, whenever life gets hard I remember how much else is out there and how that little thing I'm dealing with really doesn't matter as much.

Okay? Is that it?

Some cool facts about galaxies:

• The largest known galaxy is IC 1101—over 6 million light-years across!
• Some galaxies have two cores, meaning they probably merged with another.
• The Milky Way smells like rum and tastes like raspberries—well, at least the gas cloud at its center does (it contains ethyl formate).
• A galaxy can be full of stars and still be completely invisible without special tech, thanks to dark matter or low brightness.

There is so much we don't know about space still so really I can't say that's all. Everyday we are learning more and more about the space around us. Next time you look up at the stars, remember, you’re not just looking at light. You’re looking at the edge of an enormous, ancient galaxy that’s still spinning, still changing, and still full of secrets.