[science] Milky Way center viewed

[vincent 154]

Milky Way?s central structure seen with fresh clarity

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new infrared survey that claims to be the most comprehensive structural analysis of our galaxy confirms previous evidence for a central bar of stars.

The bar is embedded in the center of the galaxy's spiral arms and cuts across the heart of it all where a supermassive black hole resides. The survey found that the bar is longer than thought and sits at a sharp angle to the galaxy's main plane.

"This is the best evidence ever for this long central bar in our galaxy," said Ed Churchwell, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of astronomy.

The challenge

If you've ever been fortunate enough to see the Milky Way in the night sky, then you can appreciate the frustration astronomers face trying to probe the galaxy's center.

The milky swath of stars visible under a dark, rural, summertime sky represents a fraction of the millions upon millions of stars that crowd the center of the galaxy. We sit on the outskirts, looking in.? Seeing through the glow to determine the galaxy's structure is hard.

Even more challenging is peering through all the dust between here there.

The survey was done with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which records infrared light. All objects that emit any heat can be seen in infrared, and this wavelength penetrates dust, so the new survey revealed light from tens of millions of stars hidden to optical telescopes.

Bigger than expected

The bar is made of relatively old and red stars, the survey shows. It is about 27,000 light-years long, or roughly 7,000 light-years longer than previously thought. Churchwell's team also found that the bar is oriented at about a 45-degree angle relative to the main plane of the galaxy, in which the Sun and the other spiral-arm stars orbit.

A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

Other stars exist outside the galaxy's main plane. The Milky Way, like many galaxies, is surrounded by a sparsely populated spherical halo of stars. The main galactic disk is about 100,000 light-years wide, and the Sun sits about 26,000 light-years from the center.

Bars are fairly common in large spiral galaxies, but some do not have them. Astronomers had glimpsed ours and were not sure if it was in fact a bar or perhaps an ellipse.

Source

[~WinGz~ 3]

ripgut, you seem to amaze, me with the science facts you get, you keep me entertained, keep going bro. and this is interesttinggg..

[bdsams 365]

i always wonder how they know these things, since nothing has gotten out of our galazy to prove that its a spiral

[vincent 154]

i always wonder how they know these things, since nothing has gotten out of our galazy to prove that its a spiral

586387196[/snapback]

I think they study density waves in our galaxy. There is a lenghty explanation to this and it's quite complicated, if you ever go out in the middle of nowhere on a very clear night, you can actually see one of the arms stretching across the sky. No telescope is needed.

[.... 0]

I always thought it was the creamy caramel and soft nougat.

[KoL 36]

I think they study density waves in our galaxy. There is a lenghty explanation to this and it's quite complicated, if you ever go out in the middle of nowhere on a very clear night, you can actually see one of the arms stretching across the sky. No telescope is needed.

586387258[/snapback]

Really????

Is there any photo of that??

[Ivand 0]

I always thought it was the creamy caramel and soft nougat.

586388057[/snapback]

LOL

Really????

Is there any photo of that??

586388437[/snapback]

Yeah, I would to see one too :)

[vincent 154]

Really????

Is there any photo of that??

586388437[/snapback]

Sure, ;)

The southern Milky Way rises above a reel hut on the shore of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia (12,000 feet).

Southern Sky & Milky Way (Lake Titicaca, Bolivia)

16mm f/2.8 Nikkor Fish Eye, Fuji Super G 800 Plus, 30 minutes @ f/2.8

Photo ?1997 by Fred Espenak

source

[KoL 36]

Sure, ;)

source

586390545[/snapback]

Cool, I have seen that photo before. I didnt know that was part of part galaxy.

[vincent 154]

Cool, I have seen that photo before. I didnt know that was part of part galaxy.

586391016[/snapback]

Some of the observations made to further confirm that our galaxy is a spiral barred galaxy a.k.a SBbc.

- A disk. Just look at the sky on any clear night and you'll see a band of stars stretching across the sky. This is the Milky Way disk. Ellipticals don't have a large stellar disk like that.

- Young stars. We observe young, blue stars in the Milky Way, just as we do in many spirals. Ellipticals, on the other hand, tend to have old, red populations.

- Gas. Ellipticals generally have very little gas, while we have been observing neutral and ionized gas in the Milky Way for many years now.

[revvo 21]

That basically means that the Milky Way is not a Spiral galaxy but a Barred Spiral Galaxy to be more accurate just like /. claimed.

So little we know of what we're in.

[vincent 154]

That basically means that the Milky Way is not a Spiral galaxy but  a Barred Spiral Galaxy to be more accurate just like /. claimed.

So little we know of what we're in.

586391507[/snapback]

yup, but this is cool. One thing we can confirm now is that our galaxy is indeed disk shaped and that it is spiraled regardless if it is barred or regular spiraled. (M51)

[.:ChompChomp:. 0]

cool! i was always intrested in science :p

isnt there like a black hole in the middle of the milky way??

:blink:

anyway really cool!

[MadDog 0]

BOOGSoftball was right!!! :woot:

[vincent 154]

cool! i was always intrested in science :p

isnt there like a black hole in the middle of the milky way??

:blink:

anyway really cool!

586397175[/snapback]

There is a super massive blackhole in the center of our galaxy its about the size of earth's orbit.

BOOGSoftball was right!!!?:woot::

586397325[/snapback]

there is a jokes and funny section for that you know?

[MadDog 0]

there is a jokes and funny section for that you know?

I didn't start it, just provided photographic evidence. Could we not lighten up just a tad? :geek:

[.:ChompChomp:. 0]

There is a super massive blackhole in the center of our galaxy its about the size of earth's orbit.

586397433[/snapback]

:blink: how come it aint sucking us up??

[vincent 154]

:blink: how come it aint sucking us up??

586397846[/snapback]

Because it is basically proven that Blackholes are messy eaters they consume more than they can chew, and the stars that are near the central core of the Milky Way are Super Redgiants these stars are about the diameter of our solar system, yes that big. These stars are dubbed "live fast, die young" stars, they go through there nuclear fuel pretty fast (fast here meaning 1 million years or so)

I doubt the the blackhole in our galaxy will ever suck everything up, because if that was the case then we wouldn't have as many galaxies in the universe as there is now.

[Sota 0]

I think they study density waves in our galaxy. There is a lenghty explanation to this and it's quite complicated, if you ever go out in the middle of nowhere on a very clear night, you can actually see one of the arms stretching across the sky. No telescope is needed.

586387258[/snapback]

I saw it once about 15 years ago down at the beach late at night before it became over developed. It was absolutely amazing to see.

That is an awesome find and a wonder pic linked on that page.

[.:ChompChomp:. 0]

:p

Because it is basically proven that Blackholes are messy eaters they consume more than they can chew, and the stars that are near the central core of the Milky Way are Super Redgiants these stars are about the diameter of our solar system, yes that big. These stars are dubbed "live fast, die young" stars, they go through there nuclear fuel pretty fast (fast here meaning 1 million years or so)

I doubt the the blackhole in our galaxy will ever suck everything up, because if that was the case then we wouldn't have as many galaxies in the universe as there is now.

586397893[/snapback]

:woot: man this stuff is intresting..if the star is the diameter of our solar system how come our like super duper good telescopes cant see em?

So many questions so little experts :p

[vincent 154]

:p

:woot: man this stuff is intresting..if the star is the diameter of our solar system how come our like super duper good telescopes cant see em?

So many questions so little experts :p

586398429[/snapback]

Becasue there very very far away, you have no clue how big space is, and with a really really good telescope (the VLT in south america) you can see them the closes star to us is 4.6 light years away, that means even at the speed of light it would take 4.5 years to get there. Now the center of our galaxy is some 26,000 light years away.

[.:ChompChomp:. 0]

Becasue there very very far away, you have no clue how big space is, and with a really really good telescope  (the VLT in south america)  you can see them the closes star to us is 4.6 light years away, that means even at the speed of light it would take 4.5 years to get there. Now the center of our galaxy is some 26,000 light years away.

586398446[/snapback]

lol i know light years.. :shifty:

well im all out of questions..or am i? :shifty:

____________________

would you know what would happen if you were sucked in a black hole :blink:

[vincent 154]

:chomp: :chomp: If your really curious about space, astrophysics, and need help with maths i suggest posting on

physicsforums.com I tried getting a science section here for neowin, but i doubt most of the community is ready for such discussion.

[vincent 154]

____________________

would you know what would happen if you were sucked in a black hole :blink:

586398464[/snapback]

You would be spagettified you would be stripped apart by the atoms as you get more into it. if your in the acretion disk you just might burnup in a flash.

[.:ChompChomp:. 0]

:chomp: :chomp: If your really curious about space, astrophysics, and need help with maths i suggest posting on

physicsforums.com I tried getting a science section here for neowin, but i doubt most of the community is ready for such discussion.

586398475[/snapback]

yeah i'll check that place out...

maybe i'll learn about aliens while im at it lol :alien:

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Spaghettified eh...ew...lol