GALAXY

GALAXIES
IF YOU
WANT TO
FIND OUT
MORE
Try these
websites for some
galaxy facts and
games!
GALAXY
SUNCATCHER
Design your
own galaxy
Go to www.physics.org and
search for “galaxies”
Play some astro games on
www.kidsastronomy.com/
galaxys.htm
Help scientists find out about
galaxies at www.galaxyzoo.org
Put it in your window,
let the sun shine
through and see the
stars in the sky!
What colour will
What are galaxies?
Lots of old stars: red
Lots of new stars: blue
Galaxies are huge collections of stars in space. Our galaxy is the Milky
Way and the Sun is just one of millions of stars in it!
From Earth other galaxies look just like stars, but with powerful
telescopes we can see much more. We can tell
what shape and colour they are – our Milky Way is a
spiral shape. The colour depends on a lot of things,
like how they are moving and what they contain.
xy be?
What shape will your gala
Spiral – flat and spinning,
with spiral arms.
Elliptical – big ovals, like
a stretched out ball.
Can be lots of other
shapes too – you can
make one up!
your galaxy be?
Stars often turn red when they
get old and die. New stars are
very bright and they look blue.
Things moving very fast away
from us look redder (red shift).
Things moving very fast towards
us look bluer (blue shift).
Moving away
Moving closer
Is it spinning?
The side spinning towards us: blue
The side spinning away from us: red
(This is red and blue shift again!)
Where are the stars?
Draw your galaxy shape on paper and put a
sheet of clear plastic over the top.
Cover your plastic with sparkly glue.
The sparkles are the stars!
Now add any other decorations...
Is there a black hole in the
middle of your galaxy?
Put a black sequin in the centre!
Now add “space” – stick black paper in a collage
carefully around the edge of your galaxy shape.
Galaxies have more stars in the centre and less
on the edges, so they are brighter in the middle.
Do you want some
extra stars?
Sprinkle some glitter or
a few stars inside your
galaxy shape. There
should be more stars in
the middle.
To make your galaxy brighter (so more light
shines through), would you need to use more or
less layers of tissue paper?
Take your galaxy home and stick it up against
the window (the side with the glitter and stars
on should be facing you). When the sun shines
through you will see the mix of colours in the
galaxy and the stars, all outlined by space. You
don’t need a telescope to see galaxies now!
Work out what your
galaxy will look like
and collage the tissue
paper in layers to give
the right colours.
When you have
finished, put another
plastic sheet over the
top of your finished
galaxy and stick it
down.
atcher!
n galaxy sunc
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yo
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ha
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Now