Located or existing outside the Milky Way galaxy; referring to objects or phenomena beyond our own galaxy.
From Latin 'extra' (outside) + 'galactic' (from 'galaxia kyklos' meaning milky circle in Greek, originally describing the Milky Way). The term became essential astronomy vocabulary in the early 1900s when Edwin Hubble proved other galaxies existed.
Until the 1920s, scientists weren't sure if extragalactic nebulae were even real galaxies or just clouds in our own galaxy—one observation by Hubble proved the universe was millions of times bigger than anyone thought!
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