Posted on 12/09/2024 5:02:58 PM PST by Red Badger
It was barely a century ago that we thought the Milky Way encompassed the entirety of the Universe. Now? We’re not even a special galaxy.
Key Takeaways
Our galaxy, if you measure its longest axis from end-to-end, extends for over 100,000 light-years in space: a remarkable distance to fathom that’s billions of times the Earth-Sun separation.
Yet if we compare our Milky Way to the largest galaxies in the Universe, we learn that not only are we nothing special, but we’re not even in the same league as the largest ones of all. How large can the largest galaxy truly be?
Even if we restrict ourselves to the ones we’ve found, rather than what’s theoretically possible, what we’ve found is truly, profoundly tremendous.
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PICTURES OF THE MANY GALAXIES AT LINK...............
Cool article.
In all those galaxies, I wonder if there’s a race as skilled at dumbf*ckery as human beings?
It was barely a century ago that we thought the Milky Way encompassed the entirety of the Universe.
Big Think, huh? :^) No "we" didn't. In the "great debate" of 1920, Harlow Shapley claimed the Milky Way was the entire universe, Heber D. Curtis said it wasn't. Curtis was obviously correct, but the flaming leftist Shapley is feted today for being much closer to correct regarding the size of the Milky Way galaxy.
It's absurd to claim that Curtis's underestimating the size of the Milky Way is somehow just as bad as Shapley's underestimating the extent of the universe.
IC-1011….. gotta check that out!
Over 50 times bigger than our own galaxy. Geez.
We’re just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney.
We are not likely to be alone. We are certainly insignificant.
It’s difficult for a lot of folks to realize that.
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