galaxy

→ Swahili: galaksi

From Middle English galaxye, galaxie, from Old French galaxie, from Latin galaxias, from Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías, “Milky Way”), shortening of γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kúklos, “milky circle”), from γάλα (gála, “milk”).

der

(astronomy) Any of the collections of many millions or billions of stars, galactic dust, black holes, etc. existing as independent and coherent systems, of which there are billions in the known universe.

yllplimje

collection of billions of stars, galactic dust, black holes, etc

དགུ་ཚིགས (dgu tshigs, literally “many links”)


Sm

(astronomy) irregular galaxy with spiral characteristics


pea

From having the appearance of a pea (see English etymology 1), the edible seed of Pisum sativum, the pea plant.

green pea galaxy
green pea galaxy#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of green pea galaxy.


blazar

Blend of B + L + Lac + quasar. Coined by astronomer Edward Spiegel in 1978 from BL Lac object and quasar, punning blazing from its optical presentation compared to usual quasars. Analyzable as blaze + -ar.

coin

supermassive black hole
supermassive black hole

(astronomy) A very compact quasar, associated with a supermassive black hole at the center of an active galaxy.

blasaari

astronomy: a very compact quasar, associated with a supermassive black hole

(astronomy) An object which is either an optically violent variable quasar (OVV quasar) or a BL Lac object or which has properties of both.


Im

(astronomy) irregular galaxy with no coherent structure


quasar

Blend of quasi- + stellar, from quasi-stellar radio source. Coined by American astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu in 1964 in an article in Physics Today. Analyzable as quasi- + -ar.

(astronomy) An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and (putatively) the most distant objects in the universe.


active galaxy

(astronomy) A galaxy where a significant fraction of the energy output is not emitted by the normal components of a galaxy.


Milky Way

From Middle English Milky Wey, a calque of Latin Via Lactea (literally “milky road”), a calque of Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxías), referring to its appearance as a pale band of stars across the sky. Compare also Old English Īringes weġ (“Milky Way”), Old Norse Mjólkrhringr (“Milky Way”, literally “milk-ring, milk-circle”). Reference to the galaxy is by extension of sense 2.

cog

Meronyms: Galactic Center, Sagittarius A*

This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? is not our planet in the Milky Way?

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Solitude”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 144:

From a cosmic perspective, even our host galaxy, the Milky Way, is not particularly special[…]

2021, William Sheehan, Jim Bell, chapter 13, in Discovering Mars, page 294:

(astronomy) The Milky Way Galaxy, the galaxy in which Earth is located.

དགུ་ཚིགས་སྐྱ་མོ (dgu tshigs skya mo, literally “pale galaxy”)

གཟའི་མུ་ཁྱུད (gza'i mu khyud, literally “fence of the planet”)


Andromeda

/ænˈdɹɒmɪdə/

/ænˈdɹɑmɪdə/

Borrowed from Latin Andromeda, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀνδρομέδα (Androméda), Ἀνδρομέδη (Andromédē).

The Milky Way once had a massive galactic sibling that was shredded and consumed by our closest neighbour, Andromeda, scientists have discovered.

2018 July 23, Hannah Devlin, “Discovered: Milky Way's long-lost galactic sibling”, in The Guardian:

Andromeda is a large, spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. It's between two and three million light years away. On a clear night in a dark place, you can see Andromeda with the naked eye.

2008, Roger Reid, Space (novel), Montgomery, AL: Junebug Books, page 41:

(astronomy) The nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, located within the Andromeda constellation (see Andromeda Galaxy); M31.


Sy

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Seyfert galaxy., a type of AGN class of active galaxy.


Mark

From Middle English Mark, from the Latin praenomen (i.e. first name) Mārcus, derived from Mārs, the Roman god of war, originally Māvors, from Proto-Italic *Māwortis.


Q

en-noun

Q (countable and uncountable, plural Qs)


GP

GP (countable and uncountable, plural GPs or GP)

(countable, astronomy) Abbreviation of green pea galaxy.


BCG

brightest cluster galaxy
brightest cluster galaxy#English

(astronomy) Initialism of brightest cluster galaxy.

blue compact galaxy
blue compact galaxy#English

(astronomy) Initialism of blue compact galaxy.


Magellanic Cloud

Magellanic Cloud (plural Magellanic Clouds)

Named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

named-after

(astronomy) Either of two irregular galaxies that are close companions of our Milky Way galaxy.


Triangulum Galaxy

(astronomy) A relatively nearby spiral galaxy in the Local Group, together with the Milky Way galaxy. It is at a distance of approximately 2.6 million light years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Triangulum.


starburst galaxy

en-noun

starburst galaxy (plural starburst galaxies)

(astronomy) A galaxy that is undergoing a high rate of star formation


dwarf spheroidal

dwarf spheroidal (plural dwarf spheroidals)

Slightly larger dwarf spheroidals are known to be the single most common kind of galaxy in rich clusters like that seen past the constellation Virgo.

dwarf spheroidal galaxy
dwarf spheroidal galaxy


dwarf spheroidal galaxy

dwarf spheroidal galaxy (plural dwarf spheroidal galaxies)

The inventory keeps growing, and the latest recruit is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, meaning no gas and not many more than 10⁶⁻⁷ stars, that has the bad luck to be almost on the far side of the galactic centre from us.

(astronomy) A faint galaxy, devoid of gas, having a higher than normal proportion of dark matter; especially those that orbit the Milky Way and Andromeda

nana sfera galaksio

faint galaxy that is devoid of gas with higher than normal proportion of dark matter


binary quasar

(astronomy) A pair of quasars which gravitationally interact with each other, unlike a standard double quasar, which does not interact.


dwarf galaxy

(astronomy) Any galaxy, considerably smaller than the Milky Way, that has only several billions of stars.


SMC

Small Magellanic Cloud
w:Small Magellanic Cloud

(astronomy) Initialism of Small Magellanic Cloud.


LMC

Large Magellanic Cloud
w:Large Magellanic Cloud

(astronomy) Initialism of Large Magellanic Cloud.


lenticular galaxy

lenticular galaxy (plural lenticular galaxies)

(astronomy) A galaxy that, like spiral galaxies, has a flat galactic disc, but which has lost most of its interstellar matter and therefore has no spirals; considered a transitional form between spirals and elliptical galaxies.

透鏡狀星系

galaxy that has flat disk but has lost most of its interstellar matter


spiral galaxy

(astronomy) A galaxy having a number of arms of younger stars that spiral out from the centre containing older ones.


Small Magellanic Cloud

(astronomy) A particular dwarf irregular galaxy, a satellite of Milky Way.


Large Magellanic Cloud

(astronomy) A particular dwarf irregular galaxy, the largest satellite of Milky Way.


island universe

island universe (plural island universes)

Many stories have been invented to account for this milky band of light, but today we know that it is the light of millions and millions of stars making up our “Island Universe” the Milky-Way Galaxy.

1968 January 15, “Skies Over Port Huron”, in Port Huron Times Herald, volume 58, number 15, Port Huron, Mich., section A, page 8:

You will notice that the wide band of sky which follows the Milky-Way from the northeastern horizon to straight overhead (through the summer triangle mentioned in the Aug. 14 Nugget) and on to the southern horizon is far richer in stars than the rest of the sky. This is because the Milky-Way Galaxy, our local “island universe,” is a disk-shaped object and quite thin in comparison with its diameter.

1975 August 28, Stephen Dodson, “There’s a star in the sky for each person on earth”, in The North Bay Nugget, 69th year, number 62, North Bay, Ont., page 7:


BSO

(astronomy, obsolete) Blue stellar object: a radio-quiet quasar.


QSS

quasi-stellar source
quasi-stellar radio-source#English

(astronomy, obsolete) Initialism of quasi-stellar source.


QSR

quasi-stellar radio-source
quasi-stellar radio-source#English

(astronomy) Initialism of quasi-stellar radio-source.


QSG

(astronomy, obsolete) Quasi-Stellar Galaxy, a quasar


DRAGN

(astronomy) Acronym of double radio-source associated with a galactic nucleus.


HzRG

(astronomy) Initialism of high-redshift radio galaxy.


NLRG

(astronomy) narrow emission-line radio-galaxy


BLRG

(astronomy) broad emission-line radio-galaxy


ULIRG

(astronomy) Acronym of ultra-luminous infra-red galaxy.


ElG

elliptical galaxy
elliptical galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of elliptical galaxy.


LIRG

(astronomy) Acronym of luminous infra-red galaxy.


NELG

(astronomy) Initialism of narrow emission-line galaxy.


DIG

dwarf irregular galaxy
dwarf irregular galaxy#English

(astronomy) Initialism of dwarf irregular galaxy.


dE

dwarf elliptical galaxy
dwarf elliptical galaxy


dI

dwarf irregular galaxy
dwarf irregular galaxy


dSph

dwarf spheroidal galaxy
dwarf spheroidal galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of dwarf spheroidal galaxy.


gE

giant elliptical galaxy
giant elliptical galaxy


(astronomy) narrow emission-line Seyfert type-1 galaxy


(astronomy) broad emission-line Seyfert type-1 galaxy


BLQ

(astronomy) Abbreviation of broad emission-line quasar.


elliptical galaxy

elliptical galaxy (plural elliptical galaxies)

A galaxy having a smooth, featureless light-profile. It is one of the three main classes of galaxies originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work “The Realm of the Nebulae”.

مَجَرَة إِهْلِيجِيَّة

galaxy having smooth, featureless light-profile


UDG

ultra diffuse galaxy
ultra diffuse galaxy#English

(astronomy) Initialism of ultra diffuse galaxy.


dEG

(astronomy) Initialism of dwarf elliptical galaxy.


Irr

irregular galaxy
irregular galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of irregular galaxy.


twin quasar

gravitational lensing
gravitational lensing

(astronomy) a pair of quasar images formed by gravitational lensing of a single physical quasar


double quasar

(astronomy) Two quasars that form a system, such that they gravitationally interact, or are part of the same cluster of galaxies; a binary quasar.

(astronomy) Two quasars that appear to be paired when seen in an image, either because they orbit one another (binary quasars) or happen to be in the same line of sight even though they are separated by a great distance.


radio galaxy

(astronomy) Type of galaxy that is very luminous at radio wavelengths.


galaxywide

From galaxy + -wide. Coined by American science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1940 in the form "galaxy-wide".

coin

I immediately assigned an all-out search, Galaxywide.

1949 January, Henry Kuttner, “Time Axis”, in Startling Stories, volume 18, number 3, page 50:

Critics on both sides of what rapidly became a Galaxywide controversy were forced, however, to acknowledge the magnificent playing of the Student Orchestra and its great technical attainments.

1959 June, Larry M. Harris, “Extracts from the Galactick Almanack”, in Galaxy, volume 17, number 5, page 136:

Protoculture supply was dwindling, the galaxywide war running down like clockwork as both sides' resources and infrastructures declined.

1989, Jack McKinney, The End of the Circle, →ISBN, page 203:


flocculent spiral galaxy

en-noun

flocculent spiral galaxy (plural flocculent spiral galaxies)

(astronomy) a spiral galaxy with discontinuous spiral arms


LAE

Lyman-alpha emitter
Lyman-alpha emitter#English

(astronomy) Initialism of Lyman-alpha emitter.


LAB

Lyman-alpha blob
Lyman-alpha blob#English

(astronomy) Initialism of Lyman-alpha blob;


giant quasar

(astronomy) a quasar embedded in a double-lobed radio source, similar to a radio galaxy, whereby the quasar replaces a non-quasar galaxy, where the radio source extends over 1Mpc.


giant radio galaxy

giant radio galaxy (plural giant radio galaxies)

(astronomy) a very large radio galaxy; a double radio source having an overall projected linear length exceeding 2 megaparsecs (or more specifically, 2×h₅₀⁻¹ Mpc)


barred spiral galaxy

barred spiral galaxy (plural barred spiral galaxies)

(astronomy) A spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars.


MKR

Markarian galaxy
Markarian galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Markarian galaxy.


Markarian

From Armenian Մարգարյան (Margaryan), reflecting its pronunciation.

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Markarian galaxy. (a class of galaxies that have nuclei with excessive amounts of ultraviolet emissions)


spiral DRAGN

(astronomy) a spiral galaxy which contains a DRAGN


quasi-stellar object

quasi-stellar object (plural quasi-stellar objects)

From quasi- + stellar + object, from its appearance as a point-like object similar to a star, but with a spectrum unlike that found in a star.


quasi-stellar radio-source

quasi-stellar radio-source (plural quasi-stellar radio-sources)

From quasi- + stellar + radio + source, from its appearance as a point-like object similar to a star, which is also a source of radio-energy, but with a spectrum unlike that found in a star.


superluminous spiral galaxy

superluminous spiral galaxy (plural superluminous spiral galaxies)

(astronomy) a type of supergiant spiral galaxy of the local universe that is much larger than most giant spiral galaxies, and whose stellar creation rate is much higher than typical spiral galaxies because it is more luminous


super spiral

superluminous spiral galaxy
superluminous spiral galaxy#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of superluminous spiral galaxy.


Einstein Cross

(astronomy) A quadruply replicated image of a quasar, in the configuration of a cross, surrounding a central foreground galaxy which caused the replication through gravitational lensing.


Schwarzschild model

Schwarzschild model (plural Schwarzschild models)

From Schwarzschild + model, from being a model developed using Schwarzschild's method.

Schwarzschild's method
Schwarzschild's method

(astrophysics, astronomy) A triaxial equilibrium kinematic model of an actual galaxy built using Schwarzschild's method.


Schwarzschild's method

Named after German-American astrophysicist Martin Schwarzschild (1912–1997).

named-after

This is because in Schwarzschild's method we seek to match the distribution of matter only in configuration space but we ignore the velocity distribution which is an outcome of the method for any particular solution w#x5F;o.

2008, Daniel Benest, Topics in Gravitational Dynamics:

(astrophysics, astronomy) A method to develop triaxial equilibrium kinematic models of actual galaxies (without knowledge of the motions of the component elements of the actual galaxies) using a grid and assigning masses and orbits, simulating gravitational evolution with the resulting estimated distributions, to compare with the actual galaxy, until a model results in similarity with the actual galaxy.

Schwarzschild model

a model built by using the Schwarzschild's method


red geyser

From red + geyser.
Coined in 2016 by the research team at the SDSS-MaNGA Survey; from being a red galaxy with a galactic nucleus fountaining in its center.

active galactic nucleus
active galactic nucleus

(astronomy) A galaxy which has stopped star formation due to the energetic winds spewing forth from the active galactic nucleus, heating and disrupting gas accumulation and collapse to form new stars, resulting in a population of aging reddening stars.


submillimeter galaxy

en-noun

submillimeter galaxy (plural submillimeter galaxies)

From submillimeter + galaxy.
From being a high-redshift galaxy whose emissions are primarily submillimetre-wave radiation (terahertz-radiation (T-wave/T-ray); electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than infrared and shorter than microwave/radiowave).

(astronomy) A type of starburst galaxy that primarily emits radiation in the sub-mm/T-hertz range. Due to the extreme dustiness of the galaxy, they are visible mostly in infrared emissions at their redshift, which are subsequently redshifted into the submm/THz range by Hubble expansion.

compact elliptical galaxy

the type of galaxy that submillimeter galaxies evolve into, at lower redshifts (z)


hypergalaxy

This system we call the Hypergalaxy or second-order Galaxy.

1965, Kirill Fedorovich Ogorodnikov, Dynamics of Stellar Systems, Pergamon Press, page 91:

The term hypergalaxies is applied to galaxies plus their massive coronas and all objects moving in the coronas.

1978, J. Einasto, The Large Scale Structure of the Universe; Proceedings of the Symposium, Tallin, Estonian SSR, September 12-16, 1977, page 51:

A typical hypergalaxy is approximately three to five times more massive than its central galaxy.

1987, L. E. Gurevich, A. D. Chernin, The Magic of Galaxies and Stars, Mir Publishers Moscow, page 175:

(astronomy, rare) A system that consists of an enormous galaxy accompanied by multiple, smaller satellite galaxies, often elliptical, such as the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy.


pea galaxy

green pea galaxy
green pea galaxy#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of green pea galaxy.


green pea galaxy

green pea galaxy (plural green pea galaxies)

From the resemblance to the vegetable. From being a galaxy having a greenish tinge, and being small and round like a pea.

active galactic nucleus
active galactic nucleus#English

(astronomy) A type of galaxy, found in the local universe, that are active, undergoing high rates of star formation, which provides a green tinge, and are compact, visually appearing akin to peas. These active galaxies have strong oxygen emission lines and no active galactic nucleus (“AGN”), similar to small galaxies in the distant early universe, but unlike those in the nearby contemporary universe.


GBG

green bean galaxy
green bean galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of green bean galaxy.


green bean galaxy

green bean galaxy (plural green bean galaxies)

Blend of bean + green pea galaxy. From being similar in appearance to green pea galaxies but larger. From beans being similar to peas but larger.

(astronomy) A type of galaxy with a green tinge. They are thought to be caused by an ionization wave from a nearby quasar whose beam blasted through the galaxy, causing the glow.


Seyfert galaxy

Seyfert galaxy (plural Seyfert galaxies)

Named after Carl Seyfert, who first described this class in 1943.

(astronomy) A kind of galaxy having quasar-like nuclei.