IC1101

I’m always amazed when I think of IC1101, the largest galaxy known.

Whereas our own, Milky Way, galaxy is about 100 thousand light years across and contains about 200 to 400 billion stars, IC1101 is 6 million light years across and may contain up to 100 trillion stars.

The galaxy is made up of mostly old reddish yellow stars, in contrast to the Milky Way’s young bluish stars. There are not many new stars being created in IC1101, and it most likely grew to its size by several galaxies colliding into each other over the ages.

I wonder what the night sky would look like if Earth were a part of IC1101 rather that the Milky Way. Would there always be a reddish yellow glow, even at midnight? Would our telescopes be able to penetrate the trillions of stars to reveal the universe beyond? Would we even know there were other galaxies?

Here are a couple of good videos featuring IC1101….

Related reading: The Largest Galaxy in the Known Universe – Futurism