Milky Way Archives - Planet Facts https://planetfacts.org/category/space-terms/milky-way/ Fun and Interesting Information About the Nine Planets Sun, 22 Jun 2014 18:33:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://planetfacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/cropped-planetfacts_logo-32x32.png Milky Way Archives - Planet Facts https://planetfacts.org/category/space-terms/milky-way/ 32 32 Omega Centauri https://planetfacts.org/omega-centauri/ Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:32:46 +0000 http://planet-facts.com/?p=1711 NGC 5139 or commonly known as the Omega Centauri is considered to be the largest and brightest among other star clusters found and archived throughout the years. It is usually found in the southern skies or in the southern hemisphere and slowly moves up north during the season of spring. It was discovered by Edmond […]

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]]> NGC 5139 or commonly known as the Omega Centauri is considered to be the largest and brightest among other star clusters found and archived throughout the years. It is usually found in the southern skies or in the southern hemisphere and slowly moves up north during the season of spring.

It was discovered by Edmond Halley, who then counted it as a nebula. It has also been found in Ptolemy’s catalog of stars almost 2,000 years ago. It is now considered as a group of stars with its galactic center orbiting like a satellite, which was credited to William Herschel.

Among other star clusters, Omega Centauri is the Milky Way’s largest and brightest cluster. It can only be seen in planet earth at certain times of the year only. It is best seen in the northern hemisphere around May and in the early days of June, usually in the evening.

This certain globular star cluster is considerably older and less dense than open star clusters. It is said to contain at least 10 million sparkling and shining stars, and covers a diameter of 230 light years, making it a no ordinary star cluster. It is said to contain 5 million suns.

Black Hole Found in Omega Centauri

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]]> Local Group https://planetfacts.org/local-group/ Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:59:28 +0000 http://planet-facts.com/?p=1399 The Milky Way is not the only galaxy existing in the vast universe. In recent years, more galaxies have been discovered. Our Solar System can be found on the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is part of a group of about 30 to 35 galaxies in one neighbourhood and are collectively called as […]

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]]> The Milky Way is not the only galaxy existing in the vast universe. In recent years, more galaxies have been discovered. Our Solar System can be found on the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is part of a group of about 30 to 35 galaxies in one neighbourhood and are collectively called as a Local Group. This neighbourhood of galaxies covers the entire sky.

The Local Group has member galaxies that can go as far as three to six million light-years. Another famous galaxy found in this neighbourhood is the Andromeda galaxy which is located about two million light-years from our galaxy and is found on the opposite side of the neighbourhood.

Two galaxies known as the Magellanic Clouds are also members of the Local Group. The Small Magellanic Cloud is about 190,000 light-years away from the Milky Way and is about 20,000 light-years in diameter. The Large Magellanic Cloud is about 163,000 light-years away from the Milky Way and is about 10,000 light-years bigger in diameter compared to the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Sagittarius Dwarf is the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way with a distance of 55,000 light-years but is often seen as a patch of light.

The galaxies in the Local Group may soon become the indicators that we are not alone in this universe. Scientists and astronomers are continuously searching for evidences of life in these galaxies.

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