Posted on 01/13/2015 1:58:01 PM PST by BenLurkin
For decades astronomers have thought the Milky Way consists of four arms — made up of stars and clouds of star-forming gas — that extend outwards in a spiral fashion. Then in 2008, data from the Spitzer Space Telescope seemed to indicate that our Milky Way has just two arms, but a larger central bar. But now, according to a team of astronomers from China, one of our galaxy’s arms may stretch farther than previously thought, reaching all the way around the galaxy.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Ya just gotta take a gander at it from a distance.
Half a million light years should do it.
A Galactic combover....Cool!
Would not an expanding arm or spiral be sucked up and/or distorted by all the billion other galaxies?
I’ve been watching the Science Channel. hehe
Caused by global warming or George Bush?
It looks like its going clockwise. If we go below the equator will it look like its going counter-clockwise?
“Arms Around The Galaxy”
Sounds like an interstellar Fundraiser...
(or a Weapons-dealer Convention ;-)
this is nothing science.
“arms” is total visual interpretation term, not anything else.
Need photos from the Midway Station.
*
Just way too big to comprehend.
What language was this originally written in?
It doesn’t seem like the author was particularly familiar with astronomy....chemistry...physics.
Actually on clear nights, especially at this time of year I can see whips of it from by backyard. The Atlantic Ocean is about eight miles due east of my back door so there’s never really a problem with light pollution.
LOL This thread has some good comments........
The ancients, sitting in the pasture minding the sheep, had a very hard time understanding the geometry and motions of the cosmos. Most of it, they got wrong. Today, we have a very good understanding of the Solar System witnessed by our ability to sling machines that land, orbit, or pass by planets with great precision.
Our understanding of the galaxy has not reached that level. Check back in a few decades, you will be amazed.
And were right in it. Even with all of our technology and observations, still can't figure the specific structure. It's so big many don't know when they see the "Milky May" in the night sky, it's actually one of the arms or part of the curved structure of our spiral galaxy.
BTW, how big is our galaxy? It about 600,000 trillion miles from end to end.
With a T.
There is too much distance to the next galaxy for that to be a factor
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