Myth vs Reality: What Makes Up Galaxies

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

 

·       NGC 6822 image courtesy of the Local Group Galaxies Survey Team/NOAO/AURA/NSF

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       NGC 4565 image courtesy of the European Southern Observatory

·       Small Magellanic Cloud image courtesy of F. Winkler/Middlebury College, the MCELS Team, and NOAO/AURA/NSF

 

Written by Vanessa Thomas

Designed by John Godfrey 

Music courtesy of Association Production Music

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Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of space.

 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY

 

Myth side. Text, Galaxies are made only of stars.

 

Reality side. Text, Galaxies contain not just stars, but also planets, moons, and other rocky and icy bodies. Many galaxies also contain dust, great clouds of gas, and dark matter – matter that does not produce light.