Galaxy
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"A galaxy is a vast, contiguous collection of stars, gas, dust, and other matter, totaling at least a few million times the mass of the Sun, all held together by a mutual gravitational attraction" (Liu 2). At the center of every galaxy is a large, dense black hole that was once a star which died and collapsed creating such a great gravitational force that holds our galaxy in place and has for billions of years. However, before any of this can take place, a galaxy starts small with clumps of matter, which are bigger than a cluster of stars, coming together with other clumps by means of gravity. As more and more clumps came together, the collection became very dense and created a stronger gravitational force that absorbed smaller clumps into its collection. Eventually, this collection of clumps created a galaxy by absorbing all the surrounding matter that was freely floating in the universe. 13 billion years ago marked the day in which the Milky Way Galaxy was created. Scientists have discovered that the Milky Way Galaxy was formed very similar to this idea of clumps coming together.
Over 10 billion years ago, an event occurred known as the big bang. This event occurred when a galaxy collided with the Milky Way galaxy resulting in an "orbiting contingent of tattered remnants that surround our galaxy" (Cowen 1). The result of this big bang altered the shape of the Milky Way galaxy which was once "a central bulge surrounded by a flat disk with spiral arms ablaze with newborn stars" (Cowen 1)...