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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA ^ | 7/11/08 | R. Hurt (SSC)

Posted on 07/11/2008 3:36:36 PM PDT by sig226


The Far 3kpc Arm
Illustration Credit:
R. Hurt (SSC), JPL-Caltech, NASA

Explanation: A major discovery was lurking in the data. By accident, while preparing a talk on the Galaxy's spiral arms for a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Tom Dame (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) found it - a new spiral arm in the Milky Way. The arm is labeled in this illustration as the Far 3kpc Arm, located at a distance of 3 kpc (kiloparsecs) or about 10,000 light-years from the galactic center, on the opposite side from the Sun. Along with the Near 3kpc Arm whose presence was known since the mid 1950s, the counterpart inner arms now establish that the galaxy has a simple symmetry. The arms are defined by shocked interstellar gas flowing along both sides of the Milky Way's central bar. Dame and his collaborator Patrick Thaddeus recorded the presence of both inner spiral arms in their radio data tracking emission from carbon monoxide molecules along the galactic plane. How much star formation goes on in the counterpart arms? Despite this depiction of stars and star forming regions along the arms, the last attempt to search for star formation in the Near 3kpc Arm was in 1980 and didn't turn up any. The discovery of the Far 3kpc Arm has renewed interest in this and other questions about the center of the Milky Way.


TOPICS: Astronomy Picture of the Day
KEYWORDS: apod
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1 posted on 07/11/2008 3:36:37 PM PDT by sig226
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To: fnord; Number57; KevinDavis; rdb3; MNJohnnie; thoughtomator; RightWhale; proudofthesouth; ...

2 posted on 07/11/2008 3:37:23 PM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)
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To: sig226

I just read recently that the M-31/Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way are on a collision course. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!


3 posted on 07/11/2008 3:51:07 PM PDT by LiberConservative ("Typical" white guy)
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To: LiberConservative

Yeh - we’re talking about 3 billion years left before the Big One. I’m not starting any long magazine subscriptions.


4 posted on 07/11/2008 3:57:52 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

Heck, I’m not even buying any green bananas.


5 posted on 07/11/2008 4:03:21 PM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
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To: sig226
Great, our galaxy has not only one bar but two!
Howabout that. Cheers, everyone!
6 posted on 07/11/2008 4:06:11 PM PDT by BitWielder1
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To: sig226
"....the counterpart inner arms now establish that the galaxy has a simple symmetry."

Science is sill discovering God's wonders on a daily basis!

7 posted on 07/11/2008 4:06:59 PM PDT by airborne (End the "open primary" system now!!! Only Republicans should vote in Republican primaries!)
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To: sig226

I’ve never seen all those labels.

I guess I need a better telescope.


8 posted on 07/11/2008 4:10:14 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring
Lol!
That was funny!
9 posted on 07/11/2008 4:29:29 PM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
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To: sig226

It’s true! Man really IS insignificant in The Big Scheme of Things.

And nothing brings that home faster than a gaze at a clear, star-filled sky. :)


10 posted on 07/11/2008 4:39:48 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: DuncanWaring

Here’s a better map: http://fantasymaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/map_galaxy_01.jpg


11 posted on 07/11/2008 4:51:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Uhm where is the “You are here” arrow???


12 posted on 07/11/2008 5:22:59 PM PDT by WVNight (We havn't played Cowboys and Muslims yet....)
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To: WVNight
This map is the big one that this little slice was taken from. You can definatly see your house from here, but its a little hard to fold this one.
13 posted on 07/11/2008 5:35:32 PM PDT by Delta 21 ( MKC USCG - ret)
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To: BitWielder1
Great, our galaxy has not only one bar but two!

But it's a long way to drive home from either one. That's a lot of billboards hiding traffic cops to negotiate safely... hic.

14 posted on 07/11/2008 5:42:06 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Swordmaker
:)
I see you're here too!
Someone was talking about you on the Rush thread!
15 posted on 07/11/2008 6:02:00 PM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
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To: BitWielder1

It only took 18pc for Han Solo to get to the Galactic Bar via the Kessel Run...


16 posted on 07/11/2008 6:17:25 PM PDT by mikrofon (A round for the Bar!)
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To: mikrofon

Actually it was less than twelve parsecs...


17 posted on 07/11/2008 7:42:43 PM PDT by JRios1968 ("If you go over a cliff with all flags flying, you are still going over a cliff"--Ronald Reagan)
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To: mikrofon; JRios1968
Did you know that a parsec is a unit of distance not time?
:)
18 posted on 07/11/2008 8:02:04 PM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
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To: MaryFromMichigan

19 posted on 07/11/2008 8:22:19 PM PDT by JRios1968 ("If you go over a cliff with all flags flying, you are still going over a cliff"--Ronald Reagan)
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To: DuncanWaring

You can see them if you can write really small on the objective lens of your scope, but you have to be able to write upside down and backwards or it looks funny.


20 posted on 07/11/2008 9:35:11 PM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)
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