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Local Group

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

An illustration showing the Local Group of galaxies, including our Milky Way and its nearest neighbors, to help explore space and the universe.

The Local Group

The Local Group is a special group of galaxies. It includes our home, the Milky Way, where Earth lives. There are many galaxies in this group, but two are the biggest: the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.

These galaxies are shaped like a dumbbell. The Milky Way and its smaller galaxies are on one side. The Andromeda Galaxy and its smaller galaxies are on the other side. They are slowly moving closer to each other.

The Local Group is part of a bigger area called the Local Volume, which is inside the Virgo Supercluster. Scientists have found about 134 galaxies close to the center, but the exact number is not known because the bright Milky Way hides some of them. Most of these are small dwarf galaxies.

Long, thin groups of stars or gas, called streams, are pulled away from smaller galaxies by the gravity of larger ones. For example, the Magellanic Stream is gas being pulled from small galaxies near the Milky Way.

In the far future, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy will come together to form one large galaxy. Scientists are still learning what this new galaxy will look like.

The Local Group is an exciting place to learn about space and how galaxies move and change.

Images

A stunning view of the Andromeda Galaxy, a spiral galaxy located about 2.5 million light-years from Earth, showcasing its beautiful spiral arms and star clusters.
A comparison of the sizes of the six largest galaxies in our Local Group, including the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy.
An illustration showing structures in our Local Group of galaxies in the universe.
Astronomers studying the iron content in small galaxies near our Milky Way, showing how different areas formed stars in unique ways.
A diagram showing the Local Group of galaxies, including the Milky Way, Andromeda, and Triangulum, with their paths and surrounding stellar streams.
An illustrated guide showing Earth's place in the universe, from our solar system to the observable universe.
An artist’s view of our Milky Way galaxy, showing its spiral arms and central bulge.
A beautiful view of the Triangulum Galaxy, one of the nearest galaxies to our own Milky Way.
A stunning view of Earth rising over the Moon, captured by astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
An artist's depiction of HE 1523-0901, one of the oldest stars in our galaxy, located about 7,500 light-years from Earth.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Local Group, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.