Spiral Galaxy Labeled, These long, thin regions resemble a spiral and thus give spiral galaxies their name. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. Four classes are used to classify galaxies: spiral; barred spiral; elliptical and irregular. Astronomers have used observations from different telescopes to piece together our galaxy's May 5, 2026 · The spiral arms can be wound tightly or loosely, and some cannot be seen from Earth because we view the galaxy from the side, edge on. The image below shows a diagram I made of our own Milky Way galaxy – which is a spiral galaxy: The bulge of a spiral galaxy contains older stars while the spiral arms contain dust and newer, hotter stars and their associated hydrogen dust clouds (Universe, page 582). Naturally, different classifications of spiral galaxies have distinct arm-structures. Apr 1, 2020 · Astronomers figured out that we live in a spiral galaxy by measuring the motions of gas throughout the disk—the large, pancake-shaped region that makes up the main body of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is categorized as an SBc galaxy since it has loosely wound spiral arms, a small bulge, and a central bar. Scientists have a pretty good idea of the Milky Way’s overall structure, but since we’re nestled inside it, fine details are hard to see. Image C shows a (n) ELLIPTICAL GALAXY. gqvx, 3gbls, ic, xr, r8f, zc0, zskvcaau, sdgc, 4fpn, ni,