Posted on 11/30/2020 10:12:37 AM PST by Red Badger
Position and velocity map of the Milky Way Galaxy. Arrows show position and velocity data for the 224 objects used to model the Milky Way Galaxy. The solid black lines show the positions of the Galaxy’s spiral arms. The colors indicate groups of objects belonging the same arm. The background is a simulation image. Credit: NAOJ
===========================================================
Earth just got 7 km/s (~16,000 mph) faster and about 2000 light-years closer to the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that our planet is plunging towards the black hole. Instead, the changes are results of a better model of the Milky Way Galaxy based on new observation data, including a catalog of objects observed over the course of more than 15 years by the Japanese radio astronomy project VERA.
VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry, by the way “VLBI” stands for Very Long Baseline Interferometry) started in 2000 to map three-dimensional velocity and spatial structures in the Milky Way. VERA uses a technique known as interferometry to combine data from radio telescopes scattered across the Japanese archipelago in order to achieve the same resolution as a 2300 km diameter telescope would have. Measurement accuracy achieved with this resolution, 10 micro-arcseconds, is sharp enough in theory to resolve a United States penny placed on the surface of the Moon.
Because Earth is located inside the Milky Way Galaxy, we can’t step back and see what the Galaxy looks like from the outside. Astrometry, accurate measurement of the positions and motions of objects, is a vital tool to understand the overall structure of the Galaxy and our place in it. This year, the First VERA Astrometry Catalog was published containing data for 99 objects.
Based on the VERA Astrometry Catalog and recent observations by other groups, astronomers constructed a position and velocity map. From this map they calculated the center of the Galaxy, the point that everything revolves around. The map suggests that the center of the Galaxy, and the supermassive black hole which resides there, is located 25800 light-years from Earth. This is closer than the official value of 27700 light-years adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1985. The velocity component of the map indicates that Earth is traveling at 227 km/s as it orbits around the Galactic Center. This is faster than the official value of 220 km/s.
Now VERA hopes to observe more objects, particularly ones close to the central supermassive black hole, to better characterizes the structure and motion of the Galaxy. As part of these efforts VERA will participate in EAVN (East Asian VLBI Network) comprised of radio telescope located in Japan, South Korea, and China. By increasing the number of telescopes and the maximum separation between telescopes, EAVN can achieve even higher accuracy.
“The First VERA Astrometry Catalog” by VERA collaboration et al. appeared in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan in August 2020.
We’re all going to die. Run for the hills.
But, most of what we “know” is wrong.
#Ibeliveeinscience #scienceisreal
once humans figure out how to exist in the fourth dimension, we won’t have to worry about being wiped out by a black hole
Funny how they never show us an actual photo of what they say they’re seeing.
Because there is None.
Just another unproven theory.
Hmmm...
Here I was blaming my 87-year-old eyes for the problems at 800-1000 yards using iron sights...
Dang! All those wasted windage & elevation adjustments...
Maybe my iPad Air can resolve the problems now that we have better data...
Time
Pink Floyd
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.
Home
Home again
I like to be here
When I can
When I come home
Cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones
Beside the fire
Far away
Across the field
Tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Jon Gilmour / Nicholas Berkeley Mason / George Roger Waters / Richard William Wright
Time (2019 remix [Live]) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, T.R.O. Inc.
Well then, no need to wash the car this week.
And forget that New Year’s Diet.......................
I blame Globull warming,,,
Excellent... 😀😥
The Rolling Stones rather eclectic “2000 Light Years From Home” (1967).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ul4lwQ0p8
All of this has my head spinning!
Basically it means that we’re all going to die......................
LOL...Yeah, I kind of figured that...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
