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Astronomy (thesaurus)

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Concept information

Preferred term

galactic disk  

Definition

  • A galactic disc (or galactic disk) is a component of disc galaxies, such as spiral galaxies and lenticular galaxies. Galactic discs consist of a stellar component (composed of most of the galaxy's stars) and a gaseous component (mostly composed of cool gas and dust). The stellar population of galactic discs tend to exhibit very little random motion with most of its stars undergoing nearly circular orbits about the galactic center. Discs can be fairly thin because the disc material's motion lies predominantly on the plane of the disc (very little vertical motion). The Milky Way's disc, for example is approximately 1 kly thick but thickness can vary for discs in other galaxies. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_disc)

Broader concept

Entry terms

  • galactic disc

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-C9JLNBL1-R

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