Spiral Arm Of Milky Way Looms Closer Than Thought

New Scientist ^ | 12-8-2005 | Maggie McGee

[free_at_jsl.com]

Whenever I see a picture like this, it makes me wonder whether or not it has been corrected for relativistic effects. Does this picture represent the positions of the arms as presently measurable from earth, or has it been "adjusted" to correct for the time difference between one end and the other. I'm guessing that it has not been adjusted which explains why it doesn't look much like a spiral.

JSL

[blam]

Check the links in post #3 and #6. Your answer may be there.

[Doctor Stochastic]

...twice as close ...

I assume that this really means "half as distant."

[demlosers]

Yeah, that's about right we live in the suburbs.

[JasonC]

"Bright, young stars in the region heat methanol"

... at many a trendy nightclub.

[sasportas]

Someone help me here. I am familiar with Saggitarius, Perseus, Carina, Crux (the southern cross), but Scutum and Norma? Never heard of any constellation, or subset of one, by those names.

[SunkenCiv]

The Universe and the Curtis - Shapley Debate: Lecture
by Robert J. Nemiroff and Jerry T. Bonnell
http://staff.imsa.edu/science/astro/astrometry/historical/debate_1920a.html

"...Shapley thought that the Galaxy was so large it was essentially the whole universe. Shapley not only based his opinion on the distribution of globular clusters and the distances to globular clusters, but on the apparently measured rotation velocities of spiral nebulae... Shapley also did not believe that spiral nebulae were galaxies in their own right. At the time of the Great Debate, he thought that spiral nebula were gaseous clouds repelled by the light pressure of our Galaxy and that our Galaxy was moving through these clouds."

[LibWhacker]

Bingo! The Orion arm.

[Larry Lucido]

I can put you in a nice Ford Galaxy. No spiral arm, but the control arm should have a little life in her.

[Chances Are]

I didn't realize they still make 'em.

They still make Necco Wafers? Gawd, I loved those as a kid!

CA....

[sit-rep]

...heck.... I'll take it!!

[RadioAstronomer]

I was actually offering a readable explanation for folks who may not understand the math or the theory.

[FOG724]

I was actually offering a readable explanation for folks who may not understand the math or the theory.

I think most people on this forum are familiar with your wonderful efforts to provide knowledge to those of us less informed on space and the science involved. Unfortunately, some would reply to your generous offer with sarcasm. I love sarcasm but there is a time and a place. A reply to you wasn't it. Keep up the good work. Most of us enjoy your posts.

[Designer]

"..it appears we live in the armpit of the galaxy."

There's worse places!

[FreeRep]

This is a good thread, keep up the good work. I do enjoy your all the posts and was not being sarcastic. A little humor sometimes get the best of me. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy and barred spiral galaxies are relatively common, up to two-thirds of all spiral galaxies contain a bar and over time they transform into a spiral galaxies. Each spiral arm, four major spiral arms in our galaxy, our Sun is in a smaller arm "the Orion Arm." If the arms do collide, it is thought that our sun and other stars will not collide with other Suns, but merge to form larger spur over the course of about a billion. The color of the sky (universe) called "Cosmic Latte" and has been determined to be a Blueish white. Again we enjoy your posts and thanks.