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We all like to know our place in the great scheme of things, and now we do.

An extraordinary new picture, right, released by US scientists yesterday, shows the most accurate map to date of our cosmic neighbourhood - and our place within it.

The computer-generated image shows our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on millions of new observations by a NASA orbiting space telescope.

It is shown as it would appear to an imaginary observer - from a vantage point of trillions of miles.

The Earth orbits a small, yellowish star - the Sun - which in this picture is about two thirds of the way out from the centre of the galaxy to the edge.

The arrow shows the rough location of our solar system - the Sun plus its suite of planets and all the moons, comets and asteroids.

But to put this into perspective, if you enlarged the picture to the size of New Zealand, our entire solar system would only be 1.16cm in diameter, and the Earth and planets completely indistinguishable. Even the Sun would be just another point of light.

Source, full story and picture: News.com.au

Very interesting!

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The size of the galaxy is really impossible to comprehend. Like, we can know all the numbers, but i don't think anyone will ever really be able to grasp how monstrously huge the place is.

For example (another comparison):

If the distance between Earth and the Sun was 1 foot, Earth would be 6 inches away from Mars, 38 feet away from Pluto, and 51 miles away from the nearest star (Alpha Centauri).

That alone is a pretty gigantic distance to imagine, never mind New Zealand-sized models of the galaxy.

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Well, They could have included a link to a much bigger image...

It's not difficult.

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yeah that site sucks :p

damned, i saw a bigger one but cant find the link :pinch:

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So, what's in the middle there?  Looks like a giant sun :p

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Duh, didn't you watch Star Trek 5? That's God in the middle. He needs a starship, by the way.

But yeah, what IS in the middle? Space dust?

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Dont cosmologists think there is a super massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy?

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From the article:

Right at the heart of the galaxy lurks a monster - a huge black hole, thought to weigh as much as a million Suns.

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no its just a lot of stars all really close to each other and no there isnt a black hole there or there would be any stars at the center. althuogh im not sure how big black holes are.

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no its just a lot of stars all really close to each other and no there isnt a black hole there or there would be any stars at the center. althuogh im not sure how big black holes are.

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I'm sure ripgut will make his way here to correct me, but I believe the blackhole is supposed to be in the center of that bright mass. It is what is drawing in all those stars creating a bright spot ironically enough.

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Right at the heart of the galaxy lurks a monster - a huge black hole, thought to weigh as much as a million Suns.

Sounds like a greek myth to me :p

It's like that monster that lived in a laberynth with a head of a bull and a body of a goat or something equally stupid. (I forget the name a details of the story, but you probably recognise it)

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I'm sure ripgut will make his way here to correct me, but I believe the blackhole is supposed to be in the center of that bright mass. It is what is drawing in all those stars creating a bright spot ironically enough.

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Makes sense to me...

That picture really does give you a better sense of distance :o

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Sounds like a greek myth to me :p

It's like that monster that lived in a laberynth with a head of a bull and a body of a goat or something equally stupid. (I forget the name a details of the story, but you probably recognise it)

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It was the Myth of the Minotaur. A half man half bull creature.

Wikipedia page on the Minotaur

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The Earth orbits a small, yellowish star - the Sun - which in this picture is about two thirds of the way out from the centre of the galaxy to the edge.

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Specifically, it is located in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy.

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After looking at that picture, how can there NOT be any other life out there?

What always gets me, and actually scares me, is that everything we know as humans has definate dimensions...except for space. As far as we know, space is infinite, but sometimes I wonder if it isn't, what else is there? I'll never know obviously but that would be my one wish in life.

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