Our universe is a place as terrifying as it is wonderful, as fascinating as it is strange … Astronomers estimate that there are between 100,000 and 200,000 million galaxies in the observable universe. In addition, they have three different configurations: elliptical, spiral and irregular. This classification system was developed by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, based on the shape of the galaxies, on their visual appearance and not on another aspect such as the activity of the galactic nucleus or the rate of star formation.
The Milky Way, for example, is of the spiral type (the spiral arms are its most characteristic quality) and has an age of 13.2 billion years and a diameter of 100,000 light years. The disk of our galaxy is far from perfectly flat; in fact, as can be seen in many images, it is deformed, a feature astronomers attribute to our galaxy’s two neighbors, the large and small Magellanic clouds.
In addition, the Milky Way has a halo. Scientists believe that 90% of the mass of our galaxy consists of dark matter. In this case, the halo is actually invisible, but its existence has been demonstrated by running simulations of how the Milky Way would appear without this invisible mass, for example.
The galactic halo, which is about more than 15 kiloparsecs in size, is believed to be made up of sparse interstellar gas, ancient stars, and dark matter.
Our solar system lies approximately 27,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center, on the inner edge of one of the spiral-shaped concentrations of gas and dust particles called the Orion arm.
In general, our universe is a wild place, and throughout human history, man has tried to make sense of it. Although we have come a long way in our understanding of the cosmos, with new discoveries almost every day, we still have much to know and discover.
To get to know one of the most beautiful objects in the universe a little more closely, we will make a galactic trip from our Milky Way to others such as the Sombrero galaxy, Andromeda, our neighbor (with which we will collide in 4,000 million years, creating what which has been called Lactomeda), or the galaxy of the Tadpole.
