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Physical Environment > Local Group of Galaxies |
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This site tells the story of the history of the universe. Click Earlier and Later to follow the story. Note: Many facts have been simplified to make them easier to understand. |
 Figure 1 |
The Milky Way Galaxy belongs to a small group of galaxies of which the Andromeda Galaxy (shown here) is the largest member. The Milky Way is next in size, followed by the spiral galaxy in Triangulum, (known as M33) and the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is near our Galaxy. The other galaxies in the Local Group are small elliptical, irregular and dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
The Local Group is about 6 million light years across. By examining the cosmic background radiation it has been shown that the local group is travelling in the direction of the constellation Hydra with a speed of 600 km per second (1.34 million miles per hour!). |
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Figure 1 Credit
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Physical Environment > Local Group of Galaxies |
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Basic Information |
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