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Can We See Any Galaxies From Earth?

Scientists have calculated that there are over 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe. Our solar system lies within the Milky Way Galaxy, which can be seen from earth with the naked eye. Besides the Milky Way, there are only three other galaxies that you can see without the aid of a telescope.

The Milky Way
- Like other galaxies, the Milky Way Galaxy is composed of dust, gas and stars that are held together by gravitational forces. Our solar system is located in a section of the galaxy known as the Orion Spur. It has approximately 100 billion stars.
Andromeda Galaxy
- The Andromeda Galaxy is visible in the Northern Hemisphere and you can see it without the use of a telescope. The galaxy is around 2 million light-years from earth.
Magellanic Clouds
- In the Southern Hemisphere, you can see both the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is 180,000 light-years from earth, and the Large Magellanic Cloud. These galaxies are irregular in shape and are composed largely of clouds of gas and blue stars with not much dust.
Distant Galaxies
- Astronomers have photographed galaxies as far as 13 billion light-years away with the aid of telescopes.

Astronomy