If you had to give your celestial "address" to someone on another planet in a galaxy far, far away, it would read something like, "561 Lilac Crest Lane, Coopersville, Washington 99362, United States, Planet Earth, third planet from the sun, Orion Arm, Milky Way galaxy." As a galactic resident, you may find it useful to know a few facts on the Milky Way to raise your science grade by impressing your teacher with your knowledge of your planetary neighborhood. Whether you need to research a science report or science fair project or are a curious junior astronomer soaking up all the knowledge of the universe you can, knowing your way around the Milky Way could come in handy should you ever get the chance to travel and explore the wonders of this galaxy.
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Big BangThe first galaxies may have formed much earlier than thought, a new study suggests just 200 million years or so after the universe's birth..
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Galaxy CreationCombining astronomical and theological conceptsr, Thomas Wright (1711-1786) proposed a version of the Universe where the stars are arranged in a spherical shell separated from a supernatural center by a huge gap. The stars are in motion about the center, like planets. And the stars form individual solar systems that make up the Milky Way galaxy.
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Star formationStars form in dense molecular clouds within galaxies. These clouds of dust and gas obscure the early stages of stellar formation from optical telescopes. Fortunately recent advances in radio and infrared astronomy now allow astronomers to peer inside these clouds and gain a greater understanding of the processes involved in starbirth. Computationally intensive computer simulations also allow them to model the processes and test the results against observations
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