What is a Galaxy?

Galaxies are very large groups of stars, dust, gas and dark matter held together by gravity.  They can take many shapes including spiral, elliptical, spherical and irregular. Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center.  They can range in size from a few hundred millions stars to over 100 trillion stars in mass.  While some galaxies are merging with others, and most have smaller companion galaxies, galaxies are typically separated by vast distances from one another.  The four galaxies visible under dark skies to the naked eye include the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, and the Triangulum galaxy. 

Pinwheel Galaxy M101

Celestron 9.25 with Hyperstar

Whirlpool Galaxy M51

TEC140ED Refractor

Silver Sliver Galaxy NGC891

TEC160FL Refractor

Sombrero Galaxy M104

Sombrero Galaxy M104

Remote CDK24" Telescope in Chile

M81 & M82 Galaxies

Lunt 100MT

M104 The Sombrero Galaxy

TEC160FL Refractor

Leo Triplett of Galaxies

TEC140ED Refractor

M83 Galaxy

Meade 10" ACF (Namibia)

NGC5128 Galaxy

Meade 10" ACF (Namibia)

NGC 7331 & Stephan's Quintet

NGC 7331 & Stephan's Quintet

Celestron 9.25" SCT with Hyperstar

Markarian's Chain of Galaxies

Askar FRA400 Astrograph

Antenna Galaxies

Antenna Galaxies

My processing of raw Hubble data

M95 and M96

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

Andromeda Galaxy M31

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

NGC 1365 Galaxy

NGC 1365 Galaxy

Remote Chilean Telescope

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

C9.25/Hyperstar

NGC 4565

TEC 140 ED Refractor

M108 and M97

C9.25/Hyperstar

NGC 4565 Galaxy

C9.25/Hyperstar

NGC 1365

NGC 1365

TEC140ED Refractor

M74

M74

TEC160FL APO

NGC 1300

NGC 1300

TEC160FL Refractor

NGC253

Meade 10" ACF (Namibia)

Stephan's Quintet

Stephan's Quintet

TEC140ED Refractor

Large Magellanic Cloud

Sony A7iii (Namibia)

Fireworks Galaxy

TEC140

NGC 3628 Hamburger Galaxy

NGC 3628 Hamburger Galaxy

Remote Chile Telescope

NGC 2835

NGC 2835

Remote Chile Telescope

NGC 2997

NGC 2997

Remote Chile Telescope

Small Magellanic Cloud

Small Magellanic Cloud

Remote Chile Telescope

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

M81 & M82 Galaxies

TEC 160FL

NGC 4038 Antenna Galaxies

TEC140 Refractor

M100  Galaxy

TEC 160FL APO

ARP 329 Galaxy Cluster

TEC 160FL APO

Draco Triplet

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

M101  Galaxy

TEC 160FL APO

M81 and M82

TEC 160FL APO

M63  Galaxy

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

NGC 300 galaxy

Meade 10" ACF (Namibia)

M104 with Stargate cluster

Celestron C9.25/Hyperstar

M81 Galaxy Group

Askar FRA400 Astrograph

M31/32/110  Galaxies

Lunt 100MT

M81 Galaxy

Lunt 100MT

Markarian's chain of galaxies

Radian 75

Markarian's chain annotated with 169 galaxies

Radian 75


Deer Lick Galaxy Group and Stephan's Quintet

TEC140ED APO

Markarian's chain annotated with 169 galaxies

Radian 75