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The space between galaxies is filled with a tenuous gas (the intergalactic medium) with an average density of less than one atom per cubic metre. Most galaxies are gravitationally organised into groups, clusters and superclusters. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group, which it dominates along with the Andromeda Galaxy.
Name based on the brightest galaxy in the group when that name is commonly used for identification (e.g. the M81 Group); this is only applicable to groups of galaxies within approximately 50 Mpc; The most commonly-used catalog number (e.g. Abell 3266) Note that group and cluster names are proper nouns.
There are a few exceptions such as the Andromeda Galaxy, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and others, but most simply have a catalog number. In the 19th century, the exact nature of galaxies was not yet understood, and the early catalogs simply grouped together open clusters, globular clusters, nebulas, and galaxies: the Messier catalog has 110
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek galaxias, literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System.
As the name suggests, an elliptical galaxy has the cross-sectional shape of an ellipse. The stars move along random orbits with no preferred direction. These galaxies contain little or no interstellar dust, few star-forming regions, and older stars. [66]: 877–878 Elliptical galaxies may have been formed by other galaxies merging. [66]: 939
List of galaxies with richest globular cluster systems; List of nearest galaxies; List of galaxies named after people; List of spiral galaxies; List of polar-ring galaxies; List of ring galaxies; List of quasars; Satellite galaxies. List of satellite galaxies of the Milky Way; List of Andromeda's satellite galaxies; List of Triangulum's ...
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Many galaxies are thought to have black holes at their active centers. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A* , has a mass four million times greater than the Sun. As of March 2016, GN-z11 is the oldest and most distant observed galaxy with a comoving distance of 32 billion light-years from Earth, and observed as it existed ...