The term galaxy was taken from the Greek word “galaxias”. Galaxies have various sizes, from dwarf size with a few hundred millions of stars to giant size, having one hundred trillion stars. A galaxy is an enormous collection of billions of stars, dust, gas and solar system. These heavenly bodies are all held by gravity. Not known to many, the galaxy has four major groups, Irregular, Spiral, Barred Spiral and Elliptical, which differ in shapes and forms.
The famous Milky Way galaxy is where the planet earth is. The name Milky Way has been used in a chocolate bar brand. There is also a restaurant called Milky Way, proving that Milky Way is popular. In the midst of this galaxy, lies a massive black hole. Needless to say, that the sun is likewise, a huge part of the collection of stars. Since planets orbit around the sun, it’s been termed as the Solar System.
There are lesser massive galaxies which also have their own set of stars called Satellite Galaxy. Suprisingly, these other galaxies orbit the Milky Way. It is as if, the Milky Way is the center of all these objects just like the sun while the other galaxies are like the planets.
There are numerous Satellite Galaxies and the largest is known is Large Magellanic Cloud which is around 163,000 light years away. The nearest Satellite Galaxy however, is called by astronomers as Dwarf Galaxy. There is another closer galaxy that orbits too near to the solar system than to the Milky Way galaxy’s center. It’s called Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy which is estimated to be 25,000 light years away.
Some scientists believe that one day, these satellite galaxies could combine together and form another Milky Way galaxy or even bigger.
