galaxy

Everyday

1. A galaxy is a huge group of billions of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity. tree →
2. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way; the Sun is one of its stars. tree →
3. Informally, «a galaxy of» means a large group of famous or bright people or things. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons we learn that the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun is a star in the Milky Way galaxy, and the universe holds billions of galaxies. Galaxies can be spiral, elliptical or irregular. On a dark night away from city lights you can see the Milky Way as a pale band across the sky. Phrases: «spiral galaxy», «our galaxy», «the Milky Way galaxy», «a galaxy far, far away».

Examples

• The Sun is one star in the Milky Way galaxy. tree →
• There are billions of galaxies in the universe. tree →
• The Andromeda Galaxy is our nearest big neighbour. tree →
• A spiral galaxy looks like a whirlpool of stars. tree →
• Light from distant galaxies takes millions of years to reach us. tree →
• On a dark night we saw our galaxy as a misty band. tree →
• The film was set in a faraway galaxy. tree →
• The show had a galaxy of stars. tree →

Note

Plural: galaxies (y → ies). Galaxy ≠ solar system: a solar system is one star with its planets; a galaxy has billions of stars. Universe is everything, including all galaxies. Numbers in astronomy are enormous: the Milky Way has about 100–400 billion stars.