Bar at Milky Way's heart revealed

New Scientist ^ | 8/16/05 | Maggie McKee

[AntiGuv]

No, an SBa galaxy has a really big central bulge. We are somewhere between an SBb and an SBc though perhaps much closer to an SBb based on the above representation.

[LibWhacker]

No, no, I'm not saying that at all. What I am saying is that we can have an infinitesimally small sample size with respect to the overall sample space, and STILL be able to do valid inference. That is the truly amazing thing about sampling. Valid inference is not dependent upon the actual sample being "large" wrt the overall space. We're only looking a few frequencies emanating from a few stars at a particular moment in time... And yet that may be enough to say something about the prevalence of life.

[CurlyBill]

Looks like we're an SBa, the most tightly wound barred spiral?

This might now be open for debate for some time. It's funny, we know more about other galaxies than our own in many ways. It's like not knowing what you really look or sound like to others... and then you see yourself on video and are actually are surprised that what you're watching at is really you...

[AntiGuv]

I see. Well, what is your personal opinion on whether other civilizations exist in the Milky Way? Yes or no?

[Free Vulcan]

I wonder if the chicks there are hot, and if they make a good Jack and Coke.

[semaj]

A question I've never received a straight answer for:

How did our galaxy get its name? Has it always gone by that name? Who named it?

[LibWhacker]

Personally, I think it's almost inconceivable that we could be alone in such a vast universe! But as I say, the thing that interests me almost as much is, how prevalent is life? Is the galaxy teeming with it? Or will we only find it in one in a million galaxies?

[LibWhacker]

I see you're in California. Me too. The "seeing" is lousy here. Get as far away as you can from city lights and the Milky Way looks like a big milky streak in the sky (because we're viewing it edge on). I think that's where the name comes from.

[Edgewood Pilot]

From Psalms 8:3...

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou dost take thought of him ?"

[AntiGuv]

SETI does not even aspire to provide any measure of the prevalence of life, but rather of civilizations.

[AntiGuv]

Well, the ancient Greek astronomers named it "Milky" so that's the ultimate origin. Galaktos is the Greek word for milk and that's where the English word galaxy derived from.

[semaj]

I visit Mammoth Pool (just below the Sierra crest) every year for the trout. It's unbelievable all the stars you can see. The deeper you look the more you realize just how vast the galaxy really is.

[AntiGuv]

PS. If we are to 'find' life in but one in a million galaxies then we've probably already found all the life that humanity is actually ever gonna find.. ;^)

[El Gato]

There is nothing in the Hubble volume that has presented itself as being the work of any form of life that we can see

Well the Hubble couldn't see the Grand Canyon or even the Rift Valley of Mars, if the planet was in orbit around one of the Stars of the Alpha Centauri system, a mere 4 light years away. So I don't think that failure means much.

[semaj]

Thanks for the info. Has it been called by different names in different cultures? It would be interesting to know?

[Old Professer]

Neat picture; do you suppose anyone's looking at it from the other side?

[AntiGuv]

What is the Milky Way called in different languages?

Enjoy!!

[semaj]

Thanks!

[Cogadh na Sith]

No:

The Milky Way is not a perfect spiral galaxy but instead sports a long bar through its centre

It's a sports bar.