Can a Star reside outside of a Galaxy. Are all the stars we see actually within our own galaxy.?

Question

Can a Star reside outside of a Galaxy. Are all the stars we see actually within our own galaxy.?

Answer 1

yes it can but  nearly all stars are part of a galaxy  and  the most popular type is the spiral galaxy.

for really good information take a look at NASA astronomy site. have a look at the images  on picture of the day archives. there are some fabulous shots of  galaxies and information on star formation etc by experts.

Answer 2

We see only about 2000 stars in the sky with our naked eyes.  They are all part of the milky way.  We can, however, see the Andromeda Galaxy.  If there are stars outside of any galaxy, they'd be too far away and too dim to see.

Answer 3

Good question!!!

Of the the 10,000 stars that can be seen with the naked eye, most if not all are within the milky way. There maybe a few very bright transient objects (supernova) that we might see outside the galaxy - there was one in 1987.

Stars do exist outside of the galaxy, but like Doug says these have been ejected by cluster break ups or supernova ejections. In fact the guy who sits to my left in the office is working on find these. However none are visible with the naked eye.

Answer 4

Yes and yes.  A star can reside outside of a galaxy, but it doesn't happen often.  The stars we see in the night sky are all stars that are in the Milky Way galaxy...day sky too , I guess, since the sun is in the Milky Way galaxy.

Actually, this idea was a real epiphany for me when I realized that stars were generally concentrated in galaxies.  When I realized that a spaceship would travel between galaxies and see nothing, then see billions and billions (sorry, Carl) of stars all at once, then see nothing...etc., I thought wow.

Answer 5

some are in the magellan clouds

whatever we see thats not a star is a nebulae or a galaxy itself, like those close to de orion belt

a star cant get formed in the middle of the space, due to that there were the anisotrpys that caused the formation of galaxies, and those were the acretion center to gather the matter for the formation of the stars

ergo, all stars are inside a galaxie or very very near them

Answer 6

Our galaxy is only one of billions of galaxies, each with their own stars.  If you mean can a star live outside any galaxy (basically a nomad star), then yes it can.  

There is no law that states that a star has to be gravitationally bound to a galaxy.

However, stars are small compared to galaxies, so any star coming near a larger collection of stars such as a galaxy will likely be gravitationally captured by that galaxy.

When you look at the night sky without a telescope, all the stars you see are in our galaxy.  Other galaxies are too far away for us to see individual stars without powerful telescopes.

Answer 7

The universe is made of billions of galaxies. Each galaxy is made of billions of individual stars. For us, all the stars that we see with the naked eye, are contained within our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Our eyes cannot see individual stars that are in any other galaxy. They are simply too far away. When we look at the Magellanic Clouds or the Andromeda Galaxy, we see those stars en masse. We cannot resolve them into separate stars with our eyes. Even telescopes have a hard time doing that.

Answer 8

There are no stars in inter galactic space.

Answer 9

According to current theory stars can and do exist outside of galaxies.  They are formed within galaxies and ejected from them by gravitational slingshots. This is most likely to happen with the approach of, or collision with, another galaxy.

It is near impossible to detect these single stars in the vastness of space.

The stars that you see are within our own galaxy, the Milky Way, with a few exceptions.  If you have good viewing you can see the Andromeda Nebula at certain times of the year.  If you look at it with a good telescope you will find that it is actually another spiral galaxy like our own.

If you are in the southern hemisphere you can see the Magellanic Clouds. These are non spiral galaxies that are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.

I hope this helps you.

Doug