Shapley's research helped determine the galaxy's shape. What shape is it?
Square
Circle
Spiral
Triangular
Answer
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, with a bar of stars at its centre, and spiral arms winding outwards. The galaxy's shape was determined by observations made by Harlow Shapley in the early 1900s. Shapley used the distance to Cepheid variables to measure the distance to other galaxies, and found that the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.
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