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What planets make up the our galaxy? "The Milky Way"

2006-10-04 09:11:47 · 14 answers · asked by Sarah R 1 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

14 answers

This would be speculation, but if our solar system is relatively typical among the stars in the Miky Way, then we can make a very loose estimate. Encyclopedia Brittanica and other sources estimate an order of around 100 Billion stars in our galaxy. If they averate 9 planets apiece, then we are looking at nearly 1 trillion planets in our galaxy alone. Obviously this is not a count of the planets but an estimate based on suppositions of local experience. Not nearly this many planets have been observed. And of course there are many many galaxies like ours which probably have a geometricaly similar number of planets. Planets are "discovered" around stars other than the sun by their gravitational effects on the star's movements. This may be a bit of a reach since a planets effect on the motion or visibility of a star would be minute. These sorts of theories and discoveries come and go over time. But, if we are not unusual, then it seems likely that there are untold quadrillions of planets in the visible universe.

Our solar system is a relative speck in our galaxy, the Milky Way. We have 8 or 9 known planets based on the fads of semantics that one chooses to follow. There may be others outside of Pluto's orbit, though. The bulk of planets in the Milky Way remain almost certainly undiscovered and bear no names.

2006-10-04 09:43:41 · answer #1 · answered by Nick â?  5 · 4 1

This is impossible to answer with current technology and scientific knowledge.

A galaxy is a big collection of stars, dust and gas, all held together by gravity.

Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes - the smallest may have less than a million stars and the largest, many thousands of millions!

Our Solar System is near the edge of a large spiral galaxy called the Milky Way.

It has at least 200,000,000,000 (200 billion or 2 x 1011) stars in it.

The Milky Way has a radius of around 50,000 light-years and
the Sun is about two-thirds of the way out from the centre.

Because we live within it, we cannot see the whole shape of the galaxy. All we see is a big "band" of stars across the sky when we look towards the centre.

On a clear night you can see some of this "band" in the sky. It looks a bit like a splash of milk across the black sky, which gives the galaxy its name.

2006-10-04 09:44:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

Greetings!

Planets nor stars do a galaxy make. Instead it is an area which moves on its own path. For example our milky way has planets and stars as of yet unknown.
Our next closed galaxy is Andromeda and is moving at a speed of 11 miles per day, while the Milky Way is moving at just over 8 miles per day.
In time there will be a collision which would result in a super nova, perhaps creating a new galaxy, pretty much like how we got here. So life go full circle.

2006-10-04 09:17:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 2

People still confuse the Solar System with the galaxy.

The Solar System is a single star system. Our sun is the star and the planets are its children.

The Galaxy is 100 billion suns, many of which will have a family of planets.

You must get the scale right. The Solar System to the galaxy is like a grain of sand to mount Everest.

So, the question should have been: How many stars make up the galaxy, and how many of those stars have planets.

2006-10-04 09:25:03 · answer #4 · answered by nick s 6 · 0 1

The Milky Way is home to some 200-300 billion stars. The number of planets are unknown, but planets may be the norm around stars.

Currently, about 200 "exoplanets" (planets in our solar systems) have been discovered.

2006-10-04 09:29:47 · answer #5 · answered by Logan 5 · 0 1

The Milky Way is a vast system of stars, many of which likely have planets around them. One of these stars is our sun, and all the objects that orbit around our sun make up our "solar system".

The proper definition of "planet" is under debate, but refers generally to objects that are large enough to be rounded by gravity, not large enough to start fusion like a star, and do not orbit another "planet". The current full definition of planet includes the following 8 objects: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. That status of other bodies like Pluto, Eris, Ceres, and others is open to ongoing debate.

2006-10-04 09:26:36 · answer #6 · answered by Zhimbo 4 · 0 0

Well 9 planets were part of our solar system until recently where the astronomer groups indicated that pluto does not qualify to be in the mainstream of planets. So that made 8 planets in our solar system. Our planets revolve around our Solar Sun Star. Like Sun there are millions of stars in our galaxy and there is the possibility of millions of planets around those stars. I am not sure if i have a count of them. Hope you got the answer you were looking for.

2006-10-04 09:21:28 · answer #7 · answered by R R 3 · 0 2

8 planets

2006-10-04 10:57:55 · answer #8 · answered by savannah g 1 · 0 2

Currently the planets that make up our glaxay are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto's classification has been changed to a new planetary sub class refered to as dwarf planets. We may soon see the introduction of more planets as one of Pluto's moon's is being investigated as a possible planet, as is one new planetary body and an asteroid.

2006-10-04 09:16:50 · answer #9 · answered by SilverRain_Jae 2 · 0 3

This is one of the FEW galaxies that HAVE any planets AT ALL.
We USED to have 9!! UNTIL PLUTO was demoted!! WAHHHH!!!

2006-10-04 09:32:09 · answer #10 · answered by thewordofgodisjesus 5 · 0 2

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