Objective: To use your powers of observation and your imagination to invent a way to classify galaxies.
1. What is a galaxy?
Galaxies are small fuzzy patches of light in the night sky. We have found out
that each one is made up of billions of stars like our sun. People have called
our galaxy the "Milky Way" since ancient Greek times. Because the Earth and
solar system are within the Milky Way, we can see its nearby stars as dots.
However, the stars in other galaxies are very hard to resolve into dots, so
they just merge into fuzziness.
2. How can we classify galaxies?
Examine the photos of galaxies in your packet. Try to arrange them in a
meaningful way.
A) If you arrange them into clumps, how many clumps are necessary in your
view? ____________
Name each clump and list its members:
.
.
.
B) Can you arrange the galaxy images into a straight line? ______
If so, then list them in order:
.
C) Can you arrange the galaxy images into a meaningful circle? _______ If so, list them in a circle.
.
.
.
This page is csam.montclair.edu/~west/galaxies.html, last modified April, 2003