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Galaxies

Fun Fact: Did you know there are probably *trillions* of galaxies in the observable universe? That's more galaxies than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth! 🤯

Galaxies are HUGE collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter, all held together by gravity. Think of them as giant, swirling star cities in the vastness of space!

Types of Galaxies

Spiral Galaxies

These are the pinwheels of the universe! They have arms of stars and gas that spiral out from a central bulge. Our own Milky Way is a spiral galaxy!

Elliptical Galaxies

These galaxies are more like giant cosmic footballs or eggs. They're smoother and don't have spiral arms. They can be some of the biggest galaxies in the universe!

Irregular Galaxies

These galaxies are the wild ones! They don't have a regular shape like spirals or ellipticals. They often form from galaxies colliding or interacting with each other.

Fun Fact: The closest large galaxy to our Milky Way is the Andromeda Galaxy. It's so big that you can sometimes see it with your naked eye on a very dark night! It looks like a faint, fuzzy patch of light.

Our Home: The Milky Way

We live in a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. It's called that because, from Earth, the combined light of billions of stars in our galaxy looks like a milky band across the sky. Imagine living *inside* a giant pizza – that's kind of what it's like to be in the Milky Way! Our solar system is located in one of the spiral arms, about two-thirds of the way out from the center.

Fun Fact: At the very center of the Milky Way (and most other galaxies), there's a supermassive black hole! Don't worry, we're a safe distance away. Black holes are objects with such strong gravity that nothing, not even light, can escape them!

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