Galaxy Clusters

Neighbors There are two close galaxies in the southern hemisphere. 50 - 60 kpc 1 - 2 billion stars Gas bridge between These are the Magellanic Clouds. ESO

Satellite Galaxies The Milky Way has 200 billion stars and a large gravitational force. Smaller galaxies in orbit There are 9 dwarf galaxies within 500,000 ly.

Sister Galaxy The nearest large galaxy is in Andromeda. M31 20% larger Milky Way 0.78 Mpc = 2.5 Mly T. Van, earthsky.org D. Locke, dl-digital.com

Local Group Milky Way, M31, and the Triangulum Galaxy plus satellites make up the Local Group. 54 separate galaxies Over 1 trillion stars 10 Mly = 3.1 Mpc across

Future Milky Way The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies orbit a common center of gravity. Slowly pulled together by gravity In about 4 billion years they will collide. This will set off a round of new star formation.

Virgo Cluster The Virgo Cluster includes more than 2000 galaxies. They all exert gravity on each other. X-ray views show the collisions of gas and dust. visible x-ray

Supercluster The Local Group orbits the massive Virgo Cluster. Many clusters make up the Virgo Supercluster.

Universe There are over 200 billion observable galaxies. Sky Surveys put together composite images. All superclusters are moving around a universal Great Attractor. 200 Mly = 60 Mpc

Structure Computer simulations are used to model the evolution of galaxies in the universe. Filaments Voids