Our solar system, all the stars that are visible in the night sky, and many more make up the system - Galaxy. AT outer space There are millions of such systems (galaxies). Our Galaxy, or the Milky Way galaxy - spiral galaxy with a jumper (bar) of bright stars.
What does it mean? A bar of bright stars emerges from the center of the Galaxy and crosses the Galaxy in the middle. In such galaxies, the spiral arms start at the ends of the bars, while in ordinary spiral galaxies they emerge directly from the core. Look at the picture " computer model Milky Way Galaxy".
If you're wondering why our galaxy got the name "Milky Way", then listen to the ancient Greek legend.
Zeus, the god of the sky, thunder and lightning, who is in charge of the whole world, decided to make his son Hercules, born of a mortal woman, immortal. To do this, he placed the baby on his sleeping wife Hera so that Hercules would drink the divine milk. Hera, waking up, saw that she was not feeding her own child, and pushed him away from her. A jet of milk splashed from the breast of the goddess turned into the Milky Way.
Of course, this is just a legend, but the Milky Way is visible in the sky as a hazy band of light that stretches across the sky - artistic image, created by ancient people, is fully justified.
When we talk about our galaxy, we write this word with capital letter. When we are talking about other galaxies - we write with a capital letter.
The structure of our galaxy
The diameter of the Galaxy is about 100,000 light years (a unit of length, equal to the distance traveled by light in one year, a light year is 9,460,730,472,580,800 meters).
The galaxy contains between 200 and 400 billion stars. Scientists believe that most of the mass of the Galaxy is contained not in stars and interstellar gas, but in non-luminous halo from dark matter. Halo- this is an invisible component of the galaxy, having a spherical shape and extending beyond its visible part. Mainly composed of rarefied hot gas, stars and dark matter, it makes up the bulk of the galaxy. Dark matter is a form of matter that does not emit electromagnetic radiation and does not interact with it. This property of this form of matter makes it impossible to directly observe it.
In the middle part of the Galaxy there is a bulge called bulge. If we could look at our Galaxy from the side, we would see this thickening in its center, similar to two yolks in a frying pan, if you put them together with their lower bases - look at the picture.
There is a strong concentration of stars in the central part of the Galaxy. The galactic bar is thought to be about 27,000 light-years long. This bridge passes through the center of the Galaxy at an angle of ~ 44º to the line between our Sun and the center of the Galaxy. It consists predominantly of red stars, which are considered very old. The jumper is surrounded by a ring. This ring contains most of the Galaxy's molecular hydrogen and is an active star-forming region in our Galaxy. If we observe from the Andromeda galaxy, then the galactic bar of the Milky Way would be a bright part of it.
All spiral galaxies, including our own, have spiral arms in the plane of the disk: two arms starting at a bar in the inner part of the Galaxy, and in the inner part there are a couple more arms. Then these arms pass into the four-arm structure observed in the line of neutral hydrogen in the outer parts of the Galaxy.
Discovery of the Galaxy
At first it was discovered theoretically: astronomers have already learned that the Moon revolves around the Earth, the satellites of the giant planets form systems. The earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Then a natural question arose: is the Sun also included in a system of even larger size? The first systematic study of this issue was carried out in the 18th century. English astronomer William Herschel. In accordance with his observations, he guessed that all the stars we observe form a giant star system that is flattened towards the galactic equator. For a long time it was believed that all objects in the Universe are parts of our Galaxy, although even Kant suggested that some nebulae could be other galaxies like the Milky Way. This hypothesis of Kant was finally proved only in the 1920s, when Edwin Hubble measured the distance to some spiral nebulae and showed that, by their distance, they cannot be part of the Galaxy.
Where in the galaxy are we?
Our solar system is located closer to the edge of the galactic disk. Together with other stars, the Sun revolves around the center of the Galaxy at a speed of 220-240 km / s, making one revolution in about 200 million years. Thus, for the entire time of its existence, the Earth flew around the center of the Galaxy no more than 30 times.
The spiral arms of the Galaxy rotate at a constant angular velocity, like spokes in wheels, and the movement of stars occurs with a different pattern, so almost all the stars of the disk either fall inside the spiral arms or fall out of them. The only place where the speeds of stars and spiral arms coincide is the so-called corotation circle, and it is on it that the Sun is located.
For us earthlings, this is very important, because violent processes take place in the spiral arms, which form powerful radiation that is destructive to all living things. No atmosphere could protect him. But our planet exists in a relatively quiet place in the Galaxy and has not been affected by these cosmic cataclysms. That is why life was able to be born and survive on Earth - the Creator chose a peaceful place for our cradle of the Earth.
Our galaxy is in Local group of galaxies- a gravitationally bound group of galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy (M33), you can see this group in the picture.
We are used to that Milky Way- this is a cluster of stars in the sky, according to which our ancestors were guided. But in fact, this is more than ordinary night luminaries - this is a huge and unexplored world.
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The structure of the Milky Way galaxy
Sometimes it seems incredible how dynamic space science is developing. It is hard to imagine, but 4 centuries ago, even the statement that the Earth revolves around the Sun caused condemnation and rejection in society. Judgments about these and other cosmic phenomena could lead not only to imprisonment, but also to death. Fortunately, times have changed, and the study of the Universe has long been a priority in science. Particularly important in this regard is the study of the Milky Way - a galaxy of thousands of stars, one of which is our Sun.
The study of the structure of the galaxy and its development helps to answer the main questions that have interested humanity since the beginning of time. These are sacramental mysteries about how the solar system arose, what factors contributed to the emergence of life on Earth, and whether life exists on other planets.
The fact that the Milky Way galaxy is a huge arm of an infinite star system became known relatively recently - a little more than half a century ago. The structure of our galaxy is similar to a colossal spiral in which our solar system is located somewhere on the periphery. From the side, it looks like a giant magnifying glass with a double-sided convex center with a crown.
What is the Milky Way galaxy? These are billions of stars and planets, which are interconnected by a certain algorithm for the structure of the Universe. In addition to stars, the Milky Way contains interstellar gas, galactic dust, and stellar globular clusters.
The disk of our galaxy constantly revolves around the central part, which is located in the constellation Sagittarius. It takes 220 million years for the Milky Way to make one complete revolution around its axis (and this despite the fact that the rotation occurs at a speed of 250 kilometers per second). Thus, all the stars of our galaxy move in unison over the course of many years, and our solar system along with them. What makes them revolve around the nucleus at a truly frantic speed? Scientists suggest that both the colossal weight of the center and the almost incomprehensible amount of energy (it can exceed the size of 150 million suns).
Why don't we see either spirals or a giant core, why don't we feel this universal rotation? The fact is that we are in the sleeve of this spiral Universe, and the frantic rhythm of its life is perceived by us everyday.
Of course, there will be skeptics who will deny such a structure of our galaxy, arguing that there is no (and cannot be) an exact picture of the galactic disk. The fact is that the Universe is by no means limited to the Milky Way galaxy and there are a lot of such formations in space. They are very similar to our galaxy in structure - these are the same disks with a center around which the stars revolve. That is, outside of our Milky Way, there are billions of systems similar to the Sun.
The nearest galaxy to us is the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. They can be seen with the naked eye in southern hemisphere. These two small luminous dots, similar to clouds, were first described by great traveler, from whose name the names of space objects originated. The diameter of the Magellanic Clouds is relatively small - it is less than half the Milky Way. And there are much fewer star systems in the Clouds.
Whether business Nebula Andromeda. This is another spiral-shaped galaxy that is very similar in appearance and composition to the Milky Way. Its dimensions are amazing - according to the most conservative estimates, it is three times larger than our Way. And the number of such gigantic galaxies in the Universe has long exceeded a billion - this is only what we can see at this stage in the development of astronomy. It is possible that in a few years we will become aware of another, previously unnoticed galaxy.
Characteristics of the Milky Way
As mentioned earlier, the Milky Way is a cluster of millions of stars with their own systems, similar to the Sun. How many planets are there in our galaxy - the most real mystery, over the solution of which more than one generation of astronomers is struggling. Although, to be honest, they are more concerned about another question - what is the probability that within our galaxy there is a star system whose characteristics are similar to ours? Scientists are especially interested in stars that have similar rotation speeds and technical characteristics to the Sun, as well as occupying our place on the scale of the galaxy. This is because on planets that have the approximate age and conditions of our Earth, there is a high probability of the presence of intelligent life.
Unfortunately, attempts by scientists to find at least something similar to the solar system in the arms of the galaxy were unsuccessful. And this is perhaps for the best. It is still unknown who or what may be waiting for us in an unfamiliar constellation.
Black Hole - the killer of planets or the creator of galaxies?
At the end of its life, a star sheds its gas envelope, and its core begins to shrink very quickly. Provided that the mass of the star is large enough (1.4 times more than the Sun), a Black Hole is formed in its place. This is an object with a critical speed that no object can overcome. As a result, what falls into the Black Hole disappears in it forever. That is, in fact, this cosmic element is a one-way ticket. Any object that gets close enough to the Hole will disappear forever.
Sad, isn't it? But there is also a positive point in the Black Hole - thanks to it, various space objects are gradually pulled up and new galaxies are formed. It turns out that the core of each of the known star systems is a Black Hole.
Why is our galaxy called the Milky Way?
Each nation has its own legends about how the visible part of the Milky Way was formed. For example, the ancient Greeks believed that it was formed from the spilled milk of the goddess Hera. But in Mesopotamia there was a legend about a river from the same drink. In this way, large cluster many peoples associated stars with milk, thanks to which our galaxy got its name.
How many stars are in the Milky Way?
It is quite difficult to accurately calculate the number of stars in our galaxy, because they say that there are more than 200 billion of them. As you understand, to study them all with modern development science is very problematic, so scientists turn their attention only to the most interesting representatives of these space objects. Take at least an alpha star from the constellation Carina (Kiel). This is a supergiant star, which for a long time held the title of the largest and brightest.
The sun is also one of the stars in the Milky Way, which, however, does not have any outstanding characteristics. This is a small yellow dwarf, which became famous only for the fact that for millions of years it has been the source of life on our planet.
Astronomers from all over the world have long compiled lists of stars that have an outstanding mass or brightness. But this does not mean at all that each of them received given name. Usually the names of stars consist of letters, numbers and the names of the constellations to which they refer. So, the brightest star in the Milky Way is indicated on astronomical maps as R136a1, and R136 is nothing more than the name of the nebula from which it comes from. This star has an indescribable power that cannot be compared with anything. R136a1 shines 8.7 million times brighter than our Sun, and therefore it is very difficult to imagine at least some life near it.
But colossal power does not mean at all that the R136a1 has impressive dimensions. List of the most big stars heads the UY of the Shield, which is 1.7 thousand times the size of our luminary. That is, if instead of the Sun there was this star, then it would take up the entire place from the center of our system to Saturn.
No matter how big and powerful these stars would be, the total number of their mass does not compare with the mass of the Black Hole, which is located in the center of the galaxy. It is her colossal energy that holds the Milky Way, forcing it to move in a certain order.
Our galaxy is not just a scattering of stars in the night sky. This is a huge system that consists of hundreds of billions of stars, among which is our Sun.
The Milky Way, the second name is simply the Galaxy, is two hundred billion stars, which, together with the Sun, make up the galaxy to which our planet belongs.
And this is also the name of a section of the starry sky (light band) - the largest cluster of stars in the Milky Way. You can see individual stars in a whitish, silver stripe only with the help of a telescope - they are so far from the Earth that they merge, as if having covered a corner of space.
Galileo was the first to see shining clusters of stars in the cosmic "powder" or "milk". He invented the telescope - and this completely changed the picture of the world, although the device was very imperfect.
The poetic name of the Milky Way is the mythological creativity of the ancient Greeks. According to their legends, Zeus, wanting to immortalize the son of Hercules, born of a mortal woman, placed him on the chest of his sleeping wife Hera. Waking up, Hera threw Heracles away in anger, and milk from her chest spilled over starry sky…
Galaxies and supergalaxies
The Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the universe. Scientists do not know the exact number of them, but the number goes into trillions! Galaxies are collected in clusters - supergalaxies, each of which contains from tens of . So far, 4,073 clusters have been discovered. 
Milky Way with three large galaxies and forty dwarfs belong to the Local Group of galaxies, which, in turn, is an element of the Virgo Supercluster.
Types of galaxies
All discovered galaxies are divided into four types.
— Elliptical. They are named so because of their shape (a convex lens - an ellipse). Their feature is the low content of interstellar dust and gases (compared to galaxies of other types). The number of ellipses is 15–20% of the total number of galaxies.
— Wrong. The shape of each irregular galaxy is unique - this is the most common type of star clusters after dwarf galaxies. All irregular clusters have their own unique characteristics, such as size, cluster density, structure, etc. 
— Dwarf. So named because of their small size. The closest dwarf galaxy is in the constellation Sagittarius, it can be seen with the naked eye, it looks like one of the stars. In a few billion years, it will merge with the Milky Way and become part of it.
— Spiral. This species includes the Milky Way. They are named so because of their shape: several "sleeves" - bands of star clusters, twisted around the core in the center of a flat body.
Milky Way as a spiral galaxy
The size of the Milky Way can only be imagined by one size of its flat body with a diameter of 100,000 light years. The sun with its system is located on the disk (which we see with our own eyes as the Milky Way), from it to the center - 28 (according to other sources - 25) thousand light years.
Around the solar system is an interstellar dust-gas warm cloud, and the system is located in that part of the cloud, which is called the "bubble". This area received such a name for its extreme rarefaction, in other words - emptiness. Our "bubble" has a density of 0.001 atoms per 1 cm3.
Like all stars, the Sun makes a complete revolution around the nucleus of the Galaxy. The time of this revolution is called a galactic year and is 250 million Earth years for the Sun.
The core of our galaxy is billions of old stars, and the center of the core is black hole with a mass of 3,000,000 suns.
The closest star cluster to Earth is 2 million light-years away. Astronomers are actively studying it to understand how the Milky Way works. Today they can only speculate and create its virtual models.
Hello dear guys! And I welcome you, dear parents! I invite you to take a little trip to space world full of the unknown and bewitching.
How often do we look into a dark sky full of bright stars, trying to find the constellations discovered by astronomers. Have you ever seen the Milky Way in the sky? Let's get to know this unique cosmic phenomenon closer. And at the same time we will get information for an informative and interesting "space" project.
Lesson plan:
Why is it called that?
This star track in the sky looks like white color strip. Ancient people explained this phenomenon seen in the starry night sky with the help of mythological stories. Different peoples had their own versions of the appearance of an unusual celestial band.
The most common is the hypothesis of the ancient Greeks, according to which the Milky Way is nothing but the spilled mother's milk of the Greek goddess Hera. So and explanatory dictionaries interpret the adjective "milky" as "resembling milk".
There is even a song about it, you must have heard it at least once. And if not, then listen right now.
Because of the way the Milky Way looks like, it has several names:
- the Chinese call it the "yellow road", believing that it looks more like straw;
- the Buryats call the streak of stars "the seam of the sky", from which the stars scattered;
- among the Hungarians, it is associated with the road of warriors;
- ancient Indians considered it to be the milk of an evening red cow.
How to see the "milk track"?
Of course, this is no milk that someone spills every day across the night sky. The Milky Way is a giant star system called the "Galaxy". In its appearance, it looks like a spiral, in the center of which there is a nucleus, and from it, like rays, arms extend, of which the Galaxy has four.
How to find this white path of stars? You can even see a star cluster with the naked eye in the night sky when there are no clouds. All inhabitants of the Milky Way are located on the same line.
If you are a resident northern hemisphere, then you can find the place where the scattering of stars is located at midnight in July. In August, when it gets dark earlier, it will be possible to search for the spiral of the Galaxy, starting already from ten in the evening, and in September - after 20.00. You can see all the beauty by first finding the constellation Cygnus and moving from it with a look to the north - northeast.
To see the brightest stellar segments, you need to go to the equator, and even better - closer to 20-40 degrees south latitude. It is there that in late April - early May, the Southern Cross and Sirius flaunt in the night sky, between which the cherished galactic star path passes.
When the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio rise in the eastern part by June-July, the Milky Way is gaining special brightness, and between distant stars you can even see clouds of cosmic dust.
Seeing various photographs, many are wondering: why do we see not a spiral, but only a strip? The answer to this question is very simple: we are inside the Galaxy! If we stand in the center of a sports hoop and raise it at eye level, what will we see? That's right: a strip before the eyes!
The nucleus of the Galaxy can be found in the constellation Sagittarius with the help of radio telescopes. Only now you should not expect special brightness from him. The central part is the darkest due to a large number it contains cosmic dust.
What is the Milky Way made of?
Our Galaxy is just one of the millions of star systems that have been found by astronomers, but it's quite a big one. The Milky Way contains approximately 300 billion stars. The Sun, which rises every day in the sky, is also part of them, revolving around the core. The Galaxy has stars much larger and brighter than the Sun, there are smaller ones that emit weak light.
They differ not only in size, but also in color - they can be white and blue (they are the hottest) and red (the coldest). All of them move together in a circle along with the planets. Just imagine that we go through a complete revolution in the galactic circle in almost 250 million years - that's how long one galactic year lasts.
Stars live on the strip of the Milky Way, forming groups that scientists call clusters, differing in age and stellar composition.
- Small open clusters are the youngest, they are only about 10 million years old, but it is there that massive and bright celestial representatives live. Such groups of stars are located along the edge of the plane.
- globular clusters very old, they formed over 10 - 15 billion years, they are located in the center.
10 interesting facts
As always, I advise you to decorate your research work interesting "galactic" facts. Watch the video carefully and be amazed!
This is how it is, our Galaxy, in which we live in the midst of wonderful bright neighbors. If you are not personally familiar with the "milk path" yet, then rather go outside to see all the starry beauty in the night sky.
By the way, have you already read the article about our space neighbor the Moon? Not yet? Then take a look here.)
Success in your studies!
Evgenia Klimkovich.
The starry sky has attracted the eyes of people since time immemorial. The best minds of all peoples tried to comprehend our place in the Universe, to imagine and justify its structure. scientific progress made it possible to move in the study of the vast expanses of space from romantic and religious constructions to logically verified theories based on numerous factual material. Now any schoolchild has an idea of how our Galaxy looks according to the latest research, who, why and when gave it such a poetic name and what is its supposed future.
The expression "the Milky Way galaxy" is, in fact, a tautology. Galactikos roughly translated from ancient Greek means "milk". So the inhabitants of the Peloponnese called the cluster of stars in the night sky, attributing its origin to the passionate Hera: the goddess did not want to feed Hercules, illegitimate son Zeus, and splashed her breast milk in anger. Drops and formed a star track, visible in clear nights. Centuries later, scientists discovered that the observed luminaries are only a tiny fraction of the existing ones. celestial bodies. They gave the name of the Galaxy or the Milky Way system to the space of the Universe, in which our planet is located. After confirming the assumption of the existence of other similar formations in space, the first term became universal for them.
A look from within
Scientific knowledge about the structure of the part of the universe, including the solar system, took little from the old Greeks. Understanding how our Galaxy looks has evolved from the spherical universe of Aristotle to modern theories, in which there is a place for black holes and dark matter.
The fact that the Earth is an element of the Milky Way system imposes certain restrictions on those who are trying to find out what shape our Galaxy has. An unambiguous answer to this question requires a view from the outside, and at a greater distance from the object of observation. Now science is devoid of such ability. A kind of substitute for an outside observer is the collection of data on the structure of the Galaxy and their correlation with the parameters of other space systems available for research.
The collected information allows us to state with confidence that our Galaxy has the shape of a disk with a thickening (bulge) in the middle and spiral arms diverging from the center. The latter contain the brightest stars in the system. The diameter of the disk is more than 100 thousand light years.
Structure
The center of the Galaxy is hidden by interstellar dust, which makes it difficult to study the system. The methods of radio astronomy help to cope with the problem. Waves of a certain length easily overcome any obstacles and allow you to get such a coveted image. Our Galaxy, according to the data obtained, has an inhomogeneous structure.
Conventionally, two elements linked together can be distinguished: the halo and the disk itself.
The first subsystem has the following characteristics:
- in shape it is a sphere;
- its center is considered to be the bulge;
- the highest concentration of stars in the halo is characteristic of its middle part, with approaching the edges, the density strongly decreases;
- the rotation of this zone of the galaxy is rather slow;
- in the halo in the main there are old stars with a relatively small mass;
- the essential space of the subsystem is filled with dark matter.
The galactic disk in terms of the density of stars greatly exceeds the halo. In the arms there are young and even just emerging space objects.
Center and core
The "heart" of the Milky Way is in the constellation Sagittarius. Without his study, it is difficult to fully understand what our Galaxy is like. The name "core" in scientific papers either refers only to the central region with a diameter of only a few parsecs, or contains a bulge and a gas ring, which is considered the birthplace of stars. In what follows, the first version of the term will be used.
Visible light hardly penetrates into the center of the Milky Way: it collides with huge amount cosmic dust obscuring the way our galaxy looks. Photos and images taken in the infrared spectrum significantly expand the knowledge of astrologers about the nucleus.
Data on the features of radiation in the central part of the Galaxy led scientists to the idea that there is a black hole in the core of the nucleus. Its mass is more than 2.5 million times the mass of the Sun. Around this object, according to the researchers, another, but less impressive in its parameters, black hole is spinning. Modern knowledge about the features of the structure of the cosmos suggests that such objects are located in the central part of most galaxies.
Light and darkness
The combined effect of black holes on the movement of stars makes its own adjustments to how our Galaxy looks: it leads to specific changes in orbits that are not typical for cosmic bodies, for example, in the vicinity of the Solar System. The study of these trajectories and the relationship between the velocities of motion and the distance from the center of the Galaxy formed the basis of the theory of dark matter, which is currently being intensively developed. Its nature is still shrouded in mystery. The presence of dark matter, presumably constituting the vast majority of all matter in the Universe, is registered only by the effect of gravity on orbits.
If you disperse all space dust what the core hides from us, a striking picture will open to the eye. Despite the concentration of dark matter, this part of the universe is full of light emitted by a huge number of stars. There are hundreds of times more of them here per unit of space than in the vicinity of the Sun. Approximately 10 billion of them form a galactic bar, also called a bar, of an unusual shape.
space nut
The study of the center of the system in the long-wavelength spectrum made it possible to obtain a detailed infrared image. Our Galaxy, as it turns out, has a structure in the core that resembles a peanut in a shell. This "nut" is the jumper, which includes more than 20 million red giants (bright, but less hot stars).
Spiral arms of the Milky Way diverge from the ends of the bar.
The work associated with the discovery of a “peanut” at the center of a star system not only shed light on what our Galaxy is like in structure, but also helped to understand how it developed. At first, in the space of space there was an ordinary disk, in which a bridge formed over time. Under influence internal processes the bar changed its shape and began to look like a walnut.
Our house on the space map
Active star formation occurs both in the bar and in the spiral arms that our Galaxy has. They were named after the constellations where branches of the branches were discovered: the arms of Perseus, Cygnus, Centaurus, Sagittarius and Orion. Near the latter (at a distance of at least 28 thousand light years from the nucleus) is the solar system. This area has certain characteristics, according to experts, that made the emergence of life on Earth possible.
The galaxy and our solar system spin with it. The patterns of motion of the individual components do not coincide in this case. A huge number of stars periodically either enters the composition of the spiral branches, or separates from them. Only the luminaries lying on the boundary of the corotation circle do not make such "journeys". These include the Sun, protected from the powerful processes that are constantly taking place in the arms. Even a slight shift would negate all other advantages for the development of organisms on our planet.
Sky in diamonds
The sun is just one of many similar bodies that fill our galaxy. Stars, single or grouped, total number exceed 400 billion according to the latest data. The closest Proxima Centauri to us enters the system of three stars together with the slightly more distant Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. The brightest point in the night sky, Sirius A, is in the constellation Huge Dog. Its luminosity, according to various sources, exceeds the solar one by 17-23 times. Sirius is also not alone, he is accompanied by a satellite bearing a similar name, but labeled B.
Children often begin to get acquainted with how our Galaxy looks like by searching the sky for the North Star or Alpha Ursa Minor. It owes its popularity to its position above north pole Earth. In terms of luminosity, Polaris significantly exceeds Sirius (almost two thousand times brighter than the Sun), but it cannot dispute the rights of Alpha Canis Major to the title of the brightest due to its distance from Earth (estimated from 300 to 465 light years).
Types of luminaries
Stars differ not only in luminosity and distance from the observer. A certain value is assigned to each (the corresponding parameter of the Sun is taken as a unit), the degree of surface heating, and color.
Supergiants have the most impressive dimensions. The highest concentration of a substance per unit volume is neutron stars. Color characteristic is inextricably linked to temperature.
- reds are the coldest;
- heating the surface to 6,000º, like the Sun, gives rise to a yellowish tint;
- snow-white and blue luminaries have a temperature of more than 10,000º.
The luminosity of a star can change and reach a maximum shortly before its collapse. Supernova explosions make a huge contribution to understanding how our Galaxy looks. The photographs of this process taken by telescopes are amazing. The data collected on their basis helped to return the process that led to the outbreak and predict the fate of a number of cosmic bodies.
Future of the Milky Way
Our Galaxy and other galaxies are constantly in motion and interact. Astrologers have established that the Milky Way has repeatedly swallowed up its neighbors. Similar processes are expected in the future. Over time, it will include the Magellanic Cloud and a number of miniature systems. The most impressive event is expected in 3-5 billion years. This will be a collision with the Andromeda Nebula, the only neighbor that is visible from Earth to the naked eye. As a result, the Milky Way will become an elliptical galaxy.
The endless expanses of space are amazing. It is difficult for the layman to realize the magnitude of not only the Milky Way or the entire Universe, but even the Earth. However, thanks to the achievements of science, we can imagine at least approximately what a part of what an amazing world we are.
