Jump to content

How many stars do dwarf galaxies have?


Recommended Posts

How many stars do dwarf galaxies have? Also how many stars does an average or regular galaxy have?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_galaxy

 

"A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Way's 200-400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, containing over 30 billion stars, is sometimes classified as a dwarf galaxy while others consider it a full-fledged galaxy going around the Milky Way galaxy."

 

I don't want to suggest that the Wikpee is an authority, but this does roughly correspond to what you might learn in a general astro course. We were told that Milky has about 400 billion. That was some time back. I don't know what the best estimate is now.

 

A dwarf has just a few billion, like under 10 billion. Apparently the classification is fuzzy.

Edited by Martin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_galaxy

 

I don't want to suggest that the Wikpee is an authority, but this does roughly correspond to what you might learn in a general astro course. We were told that Milky has about 400 billion. That was some time back. I don't know what the best estimate is now.

 

A dwarf has just a few billion, like under 10 billion. Apparently the classification is fuzzy.

 

Hi Martin. Thanks for the reply.

 

The problem is that wikipedia later says in a different article that "typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (10^7) stars up to giants with one trillion (10^12) stars, all orbiting a common center of mass".

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy

 

So can a dwarf galaxy contain only 10 million stars or is this number too small?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The problem is that wikipedia later says in a different article that "typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (10^7) stars up to giants with one trillion (10^12) stars, all orbiting a common center of mass".

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy

 

So can a dwarf galaxy contain only 10 million stars or is this number too small?

 

I think Wikipedia is consistent. The two articles just give approximate upper and lower limits on a conventional category.

One says the range goes as high as few billion. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_galaxy )

The other says it goes as low as ten million. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy )

 

So it looks like the range for this particular phrase, for these words "dwarf galaxy", is

10^7 up to 10^10 or thereabouts.

 

I don't think we are discussing nature here as much as we are discussing human language. Nature can have a great range of sizes, even including what are called "globular clusters" with less than a million stars. I think it is mostly just a matter of custom and convention how we divide it into segments and what we call some particular segment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I learn something new every day......I watched the science channel last nite and always thought that the universe was moving away and spreading out, but learned that the our galaxy the milkyway is moving toward andramida galaxy. Interesting stuff:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I learn something new every day......I watched the science channel last nite and always thought that the universe was moving away and spreading out, but learned that the our galaxy the milkyway is moving toward andramida galaxy. Interesting stuff:)

 

It seems that local gravitational forces causes many galaxies, and even galaxy clusters, to collide. However, after a certain distance away, the expansion of space makes sure all galaxies are moving away form us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.