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Spiral Galaxy Facts
Spiral Galaxy Facts
Common Name:
Spiral galaxy
Hubble Sequence Class:
Spiral
Denotes:
Sa, Sb, Sc, SBa, SBb or SBc
Appearance Characteristics:
Spiral Shaped, Like a Whirlpool
Example Galaxies:
Milky Way and Andromeda
15 Spiral Galaxy Facts for Kids
A spiral galaxy is a type of galaxy on the Hubble sequence classification scheme.
There are six main types of spiral galaxies, and they are Sa, Sb, Sc, SBa, SBb and SBc.
A spiral galaxy has a spiral like structure and will have well-defined arms extending outwards.
All spiral galaxies have a supermassive black hole in the very center of their bulge.
A spiral galaxy is called a grand design spiral galaxy when it has prominent, well-defined arms.
A spiral galaxy is called a barred spiral galaxy when it has a centralized bar-shaped structured that contains stars.
It's estimated that spiral galaxies and irregular galaxies make up to 60% of the galaxies in the observable universe.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a barred spiral galaxy and the home of our Solar System.
The oldest spiral galaxy in the known universe is BX422, with an estimated age of 11 billion years old.
An example of a Sa spiral galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as NGC 224.
An example of a Sb spiral galaxy is PGC 69533, also known as UGC 12158.
An example of a Sc spiral galaxy is BX442.
An example of a SBa spiral galaxy is NGC 4314.
An example of a SBb spiral galaxy is Messier 95, also known as NGC 3351.
An example of a SBc spiral galaxy is NGC 3953.
More Galaxy Facts
Andromeda Galaxy Facts
Black Eye Galaxy Facts
Elliptical Galaxy Facts
Irregular Galaxy Facts
Lenticular Galaxy Facts
Milky Way Galaxy Facts
Sombrero Galaxy Facts
Spiral Galaxy Facts
Whirlpool Galaxy Facts
More Galaxy Facts
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Andromeda Galaxy Facts
Black Eye Galaxy Facts
Elliptical Galaxy Facts
Irregular Galaxy Facts
Lenticular Galaxy Facts
Milky Way Galaxy Facts
Sombrero Galaxy Facts
Spiral Galaxy Facts
Whirlpool Galaxy Facts
Spiral Galaxy Pictures
A photo of spiral galaxy NGC 6503.
Credit: NASA
A photo of spiral galaxy NGC 5236.
Credit: NASA
A photo of spiral galaxy NGC 3982.
Credit: NASA
Additional Resources with Spiral Galaxy Facts
Galaxy Types and Classifications
- Learn about the different types of galaxies, like the spiral galaxy on the Cornell website.
Pictures of Spiral Galaxies
- View some awesome pictures of spiral galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Spiral Galaxy - Wikipedia
- Discover more amazing facts about spiral galaxies on the Wikipedia website.