Glossary term: Galactic Bar
Description: Many spiral galaxies have a bar, a feature in their central region where most of the stars, gas, and dust follow a straight bar feature. The spiral arms of the galaxy begin at the outer edges of this bar. Spiral galaxies with a bar are called barred spiral galaxies. The Milky Way is thought to be a barred spiral galaxy.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
