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galaxen

Galaxen, literally “the galaxy” in Swedish, is a term used in astronomy to denote a gravitationally bound system of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter. In general usage, galaxen can refer to any galaxy, but it is commonly used to describe the Milky Way when speaking about our own galaxy. Galaxies come in a range of shapes and sizes, including spiral, barred spiral, elliptical, and irregular types. They contain hundreds of billions to trillions of stars, along with vast amounts of gas, dust, and dark matter, organized into structural components such as disks, bulges, and halos.

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that contains the Solar System. It is estimated to

Galaxies form and evolve through the accretion of gas, star formation, and hierarchical mergers with other

Beyond the Milky Way lie countless other galaxies, ranging from faint dwarf galaxies to giant ellipticals,

be
about
100,000
light-years
in
diameter
and
hosts
hundreds
of
billions
of
stars.
Its
central
region
contains
a
supermassive
black
hole,
Sagittarius
A*,
with
a
mass
of
several
million
solar
masses.
The
visible
matter
of
the
galaxy
lies
within
a
disk
and
spiral
arms,
surrounded
by
a
roughly
spherical
halo
and
a
more
extensive
dark
matter
halo.
galaxies.
Their
appearance
and
internal
motions
reflect
this
history,
including
interactions
with
neighbors
and
feedback
from
stars
and
black
holes.
Large-scale
surveys
and
missions,
such
as
Gaia,
map
the
positions
and
motions
of
stars
to
illuminate
structure
and
history
within
galaxies.
bound
together
in
groups
and
clusters
within
the
observable
universe.