Galaxies and the Milky Way

Lab Brief #2

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Gravity is invisible — but it shapes everything.

What you'll learn

Galaxies are enormous collections of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity. Our Milky Way galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and is a spiral galaxy.

Key words

galaxy
A giant group of billions of stars held together in space.
gravity
A force that pulls things down toward the Earth.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you check: which is closer?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Calculate your weight on different planets by multiplying your Earth weight by each planet's gravity factor. Make a bar graph of the results.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Look for patterns in your observations.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Make a graph or chart showing your results.

Question 1 of 2

What is a galaxy?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

What is the closest star to Earth?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌌 If you could drive a car straight up at highway speed, you'd reach space in under an hour.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Asteroids and Comets All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Every sunrise and every shadow is this idea in action.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Look at the moon tonight. Notice its shape. Look again in 3 days.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”

🪐Share card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

Galaxies and the Milky Way

Next Smart Experiment

Share this experiment

Galaxies and the Milky Way

Done with science? Try something else

Your Cart (0)