Galaxy types, the Big Bang, dark matter, and other cosmology facts.
35 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.
- What are the three main morphological types of galaxies?
- Spiral, elliptical, and irregular.
- What is a spiral galaxy?
- A galaxy with a flat rotating disk and spiral arms extending from the center.
- What is an elliptical galaxy?
- A galaxy shaped like an ellipse, ranging from nearly spherical to very elongated.
- What is an irregular galaxy?
- A galaxy with no distinct shape, often distorted by gravitational forces from nearby galaxies.
- What is a barred spiral galaxy?
- A spiral galaxy with a bar-shaped structure of stars across its center.
- What is the Big Bang?
- The leading theory that the universe expanded from an extremely hot, dense initial state.
- How old is the universe according to current estimates?
- Approximately 13.8 billion years.
- What is cosmic expansion?
- The continuous increase in distance between galaxies over time.
- What is dark matter?
- Invisible matter comprising about 85% of the matter in the universe, detected only through gravitational effects.
- What is dark energy?
- A mysterious form of energy causing the acceleration of cosmic expansion.
- What is the observable universe?
- The spherical region of the universe we can potentially observe, limited by the distance light has traveled since the Big Bang.
- What is redshift?
- The increase in wavelength of light from objects moving away from us.
- What is the Milky Way?
- Our galaxy, a large spiral galaxy containing hundreds of billions of stars.
- How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy from the Milky Way?
- Approximately 2.5 million light-years.
- What is a light-year?
- The distance light travels through vacuum in one year.