spiral arm
Galaxy's curved extension
A spiral arm is one of the curved, luminous bands extending outward from the center of a spiral galaxy.
These arms contain concentrations of stars, gas, and dust, appearing brighter than surrounding regions due to active star formation.
Our solar system lies in one of the Milky Way's spiral arms: The Orion Arm is a minor spiral arm of our galaxy.
Galaxy containing Earth
Diffuse interstellar matter collections
- stellar nurseryGas cloud birthing suns
- star formationDense cloud becomes sun
- trailing edgeRear border of airfoil
- leading edgeForemost position in development
Renowned astronomer's surname
- telescopeInstrument magnifying faraway objects
- observatoryFacility for celestial study
- infrared imagingCapturing heat radiation visually
- radio astronomyAnalyzing cosmic electromagnetic emissions
spectroscopy · redshift · light-year · James Webb · interferometry · parallax · stellar populations · luminosity
Milky Way
Galaxy containing Earth
gas clouds
Diffuse interstellar matter collections
- stellar nurseryGas cloud birthing suns
- star formationDense cloud becomes sun
- trailing edgeRear border of airfoil
Hubble
Renowned astronomer's surname
- telescopeInstrument magnifying faraway objects
- observatoryFacility for celestial study
- infrared imagingCapturing heat radiation visually
radio astronomy · spectroscopy · redshift · light-year · James Webb · interferometry · parallax · stellar populations · luminosity · distance measurement
- spacespace, sun, moon, stars, star
- galaxy partsgalactic core, galactic center, nucleus, bulge, disk
- Space Regionsasteroid belt, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, heliosphere, interplanetary space
- spiral galaxiesMilky Way, Andromeda Galaxy, Andromeda
- space pathsorbit, comet trail, asteroid belt, orbital path, planetary orbit
- space objectsgalaxy, star cluster, nebula, planet, quasar
spiral armgalactic core
Central region of galaxy
galactic center · supermassive black hole · intergalactic space · void