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Solar System
Space and Stars

The Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way Galaxy
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.48

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    trillion, solar, gravity, system, barred, billion, running, travels, part, spiral, actually, diameter, galaxy, holds, center, large
     content words:    Milky Way, Local Group, Orion Arm

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The Milky Way Galaxy
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     Our solar system is a small part of a galaxy. Galaxy is the name given to a large system of stars, planets, gas, and dust. Gravity holds a galaxy together. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way galaxy. It has an estimated 200 billion other stars besides our own sun. At least some of these other stars have planets orbiting around them.
 
2     As a galaxy, the Milky Way is actually a giant. Its diameter is about 100,000 light years. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. A light year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers or about 6 trillion miles.

Paragraphs 3 to 4:
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