A galaxy is a physical system of stars, planetary systems, stellar remnants, substellar objects, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek g
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 55,000 light-years in diameter and approximately 60 million light-years from Earth.
Photograph of the "Great Andromeda Nebula" by Isaac Roberts, 1899, later identified as the Andromeda Galaxy
This ultraviolet image of Andromeda shows blue regions containing young, massive stars.
The galaxy cluster Abell 1413 is dominated by this cD elliptical galaxy designated Abell 1413 BCG. It has an isophotal diameter of over 800,000 light-years across. Note the gravitational lensing.
A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun. Black holes are a class o
Galaxy
…mass. Most of the mass in a typical galaxy is in the form of dark matter, with only a few percent of that mass visible in the form of stars and nebulae. Supermassive black holes are a common feature at the centers of galaxies. Galaxies are categorised according to their visual characteristics such as elliptical, spiral, or…
The first direct image of a supermassive black hole, found in the galactic core of Messier 87.
An artist's conception of a supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk and emitting a relativistic jet.
Artist's impression of the huge outflow ejected from the quasar SDSS J1106+1939
Artist's illustration of galaxy with jets from a supermassive black hole