Jane DoeAll of us know about Milky Way, after all planet earth is a part of it. The beautiful row of infinite stars, visible during clear skies near the horizon is indeed a part of the milky way. But there are other galaxies which exists out there in the visible universe and very little is known about the other nearest galaxies to planet earth. This article will throw some light on the other nearest galaxies surrounding our Milky Way.
What is a galaxy?
A galaxy is a massive congregation of gravitation bound system. It consists of stars, stellar objects (such as brown dwarfs and neutron stars), nebulae, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, black holes, and an unknown component of dark matter. Examples of galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million stars to giants with a hundred trillion stars or more, each orbiting through their galaxy. There are probably more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
Lets know a little more about the top 5 nearest galaxies to planet earth.
1) Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy
Canis Major is a debated dwarf irregular and one of the nearest galaxies to planet earth. It is located approximately 25,000 lights years away from the solar system. Canis Major Dwarf should not be confused with the constellation of stars named Canis Major. While they both are in the same part of the sky but they both are different.
Canis Major Dwarf is supposedly a small galaxy which contains a relatively high percentage of red giant celestial bodies, and approximately 1 billion stars.
2) Sagittarius Dwarf
Sagittarius dwarf is considered to be a colonial neighbour of the Milky Way. It is the second nearest galaxy to planet earth after Canis Major Dwarf. Sagittarius Dwarf is densely populated and filled with large yellow stars. It is disguised by large amounts of dust in the gargantuan plane. This galaxy was discovered in 1994.
3) Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Magellanic cloud galaxy is also irregular in nature with a bar shaped edifice across its core region. It has been hypothesized that earlier it may have been a spiral one. Though it is one of the nearest galaxies to earth yet not much is known about it.
4) Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the bordering and largest galaxy near the Milky Way. It is one of the rare galaxies that can be seen unassisted from the Earth. Research suggests that in a time period of about 4.5 billion years the Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way. Andromeda is convoyed by 14 dwarf galaxies, including M32, M110, etc. Since this galaxy is nearest to the earth it may help in tracing the origin and development of planet earth as well as the Milky Way galaxy.
5) Draco Dwarf Galaxies
Draco constellation has its dwelling in the northern sky. It is one of the largest constellations in the sky. The name of the constellation has been derived from the greek mythology.
So it is considered as a Greek constellation. Its existence was plotted and quantified by a Greek scientist called Ptolemy in the time period as early as 2nd century. The constellation has a consistence appearance in the polar region specifically the northern hemisphere.
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