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Size (left) and distance (right) of a few well-known galaxies put to scale. There are an estimated 100 billion galaxies in all of the observable universe. [1] On the order of 100,000 galaxies make up the Local Supercluster, and about 51 galaxies are in the Local Group (see list of nearest galaxies for a complete list).
In this map of the Observable Universe, objects appear enlarged to show their shape. From left to right celestial bodies are arranged according to their proximity to the Earth. This horizontal (distance to Earth) scale is logarithmic.
Galaxies by type. List of spiral galaxies; List of ring galaxies; List of polar-ring galaxies; List of quasars; Galaxies by association. List of largest galaxies; List of nearest galaxies; Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way; Other characteristics. List of galaxies named after people; List of galaxies with richest globular cluster systems
All the well-known galaxies appear in one or more of these catalogues but each time under a different number. For example, Messier 109 (or "M109") is a spiral galaxy having the number 109 in the catalogue of Messier. It also has the designations NGC 3992, UGC 6937, CGCG 269–023, MCG +09-20-044, and PGC 37617 (or LEDA 37617), among others. [20]
By 1781 the final published list grows to 103 objects, 34 of which turn out to be galaxies. 1785 – William Herschel carried the first attempt to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the position of the Sun in it by carefully counting the number of stars in different regions of the sky. He produced a diagram of the shape of the galaxy with ...
Many galaxies are thought to have black holes at their active centers. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A* , has a mass four million times greater than the Sun. As of March 2016, GN-z11 is the oldest and most distant observed galaxy with a comoving distance of 32 billion light-years from Earth, and observed as it existed ...
Below is a list of notable spiral galaxies with their own articles. The classification column refers to the galaxy morphological classification used by astronomers to describe galaxy structure. Designation
This is a list of largest galaxies known, sorted by order of increasing major axis diameters. The unit of measurement used is the light-year (approximately 9.46 × 10 12 kilometers). Overview