List of The Largest Galaxies Ordered by Size

It is mind-boggling to try to think how big some galaxies are. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years from end to end which is already impressive. And yet, there are galaxies out there that are more than 17 times larger.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the largest galaxies in the universe in order starting from the biggest galaxy we know about, ESO 383-76 which has a diameter of 1.7 million light-years.

It is important to note that this ranking is constantly changing as we keep finding and measuring more and more galaxies. Less than a decade ago, the largest galaxy we knew about was the Condor Galaxy, also known as NGC 6872 and shown in the photo above which has an approximate diameter of 717,000 light-years. Less than half of the estimated width of ESO 383-76.

It is important to note that the numbers shown in the table below are estimates. It is very hard to measure objects at such large distances as galaxies. This is done using a variety of methods that involve measuring the amount of light received from the stars in the galaxy and has a margin of error.

Here’s what each of the columns in the table below means.

Galaxy Name: Proper name or scientific designation of the galaxy. Most newly discovered galaxies don’t receive a proper name these days, instead, they just receive a catalog number or designation. For a list of galaxies with proper names check this post.

Major axis diameter: Length of the largest axis of the galaxy. Remember that most galaxies are somewhat elliptical in shape so they’ll have an axis that is larger than the other. This is generally simply referred to as the galaxy’s diameter. Given in light-years.

Minor axis diameter: Length of the shortest axis of the galaxy. Remember that most galaxies are somewhat elliptical in shape so they’ll have an axis that is larger than the other. Given in light-years.

Estimation method: Method used to measure the galaxy.