The Milky Way

9SCIE - Space

Finn Le Sueur

2024

Mahi Tuatahi

  1. Glue the diagram of the Big Bang into your book (across two pages, or fold it in half)
  2. Open “The Scale of the Universe” on Google Classroom and explore

The Laniakea Supercluster

  • In the universe, galaxies come in large groups. These groups are called superclusters!

  • There are even superclusters of superclusters.
  • Our supercluster is called the Virgo Supercluster and exists as part of the Laniakea Supercluster

The Milky Way

Our galaxy, The Milky Way, is part of a group of galaxies inside the Virgo Supercluster called The Local Group

  • We are in the Orion Arm, one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way

  • The Milky way is \(200,000ly\) in diameter, and \(2,000ly\) thick

This is galaxy ESO 121-6, a spiral galaxy like our own, but seen from the side.

At the centre of our galaxy (and most others) is a supermassive black hole that we orbit around!

The solar system orbits the supermassive black hole at a speed of \(230,000\) meters per second, and takes around 225 million years to do one rotation!

Task: Your Cosmic Address

  1. Glue in your postcard
  2. Write your cosmic address (on the right)
    • Start with “The Universe” end with your actual postal address here in Christchurch!
  3. Write a letter to an alien out in the universe (on the left)
  4. Draw a little Earth in the poststamp box!

Kahoot!

https://create.kahoot.it/details/formation-of-the-universe/a73d8cfa-ded4-44fe-a45a-a15cec78c433