Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

pokerfan

(27,677 posts)
5. Interview with a radio astronomer from last year
Thu Jan 3, 2013, 02:16 PM
Jan 2013

NOVA: Do we know what the Milky Way looks like?

Reid: The answer really is no. At this point, we do know it is a spiral galaxy, we know it has spiral patterns, but we don't really know where these spiral arms lie. There's even debate between astronomers about whether there are two or four arms. I would say within the next few years when we've been able to map the positions of young stars that trace out these arms, then we'll know exactly where the arms are, and how many there are. We have good preliminary evidence to show there are four arms. And we know a little bit more about how tightly bound or open the arms are, there's been some debate about that, and it looks like it's a fairly loosely bound spiral, but to go beyond that it'll take a lot more observations and data.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/insidenova/2012/06/mapping-the-milky-way-from-the-inside-out.html

How do we know what the Milky Way looks like? awake Jan 2013 #1
Radio telescopes. Odin2005 Jan 2013 #2
Interview with a radio astronomer from last year pokerfan Jan 2013 #5
Thanks awake Jan 2013 #6
if any trek fans are on here JesterCS Jan 2013 #3
+ Infinity! Odin2005 Jan 2013 #4
Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science»This galaxy looks like th...»Reply #5