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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Milky Way Galaxy gets 15%bigger, 50% heavier |
| 2009-01-06 |
| Scientists mapped the Milky Way in a more detailed, three-dimensional way and found that it's 15 percent larger in breadth. More important, it's denser, with 50 percent more mass, which is like weight. The new findings were presented Monday at the American Astronomical Society's convention in Long Beach, Calif. That's not necessarily good news. A bigger Milky Way means that it could be crashing violently into the neighboring Andromeda galaxy sooner than predicted -- [I blame Bush...er.. Global Warming...neoconservatives...oh, yeah the Jews] -- though still billions of years from now. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #18 BP yes the average density is very low but there are massive black holes in the middle of both galaxies also, there are very dense star concentrations near the center and finally, as the two galaxies get close, they become distorted along the paths of motion not a neat clean picture |
| Posted by: mhw 2009-01-06 19:29 |
| #17 This is what happens when you eat too many Milky Ways. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2009-01-06 18:45 |
| #16 The average density of the galaxy is very low, so the "collision" will be more like two gases mixing that two solid objects colliding. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-06 16:54 |
| #15 But now that I think about it, this is good news. After all, the heavier vehicle almost always does better in a crash, so.....Andromeda better start bulking up. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-01-06 16:44 |
| #14 Maybe a diet company could use a new spokesgalaxy? |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-01-06 16:43 |
| #13 The holidays were rough for me also. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-06 15:42 |
| #12 Milky Way galaxy has been what it has been. Only the measurements have been off...mebbe... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-01-06 15:11 |
| #11 Nah, they just started measuring and including the massive Algore 'spew'. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2009-01-06 15:01 |
| #10 Hey, give the MW a chance for some publicity; this fat schtick is working for Oprah ( now in a bigger, fambly size) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2009-01-06 14:41 |
| #9 I knew a woman who claimed that her geology prof husband once introduced her as 'small but dense'. |
| Posted by: mhw 2009-01-06 14:38 |
| #8 Grunter - beat me to it. We used to tell our geology professor that a particular mineral was heavy for its size - just to drive him nuts. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-06 13:53 |
| #7 Give ME a big enough Lawyer and I'll bring the whole thing down. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-06 13:37 |
| #6 Feh! Gimme a big enough lever, and I'll lift the whole thing. |
| Posted by: Archimedes 2009-01-06 13:29 |
| #5 "That's not necessarily good news. " Geez talk about a reach! How could this be BAD news or good news? The simple fact is that this has absolutely no bearing on anyone other than the most abstruse of sciences. But the media has to qualify everything as BAD NEWS or else they feel no one will pay any attention. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2009-01-06 13:16 |
| #4 Grunter: Yes. Thought the same thing. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2009-01-06 13:15 |
| #3 "with 50 percent more mass, which is like weight" Priceless. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2009-01-06 12:26 |
| #2 Does this nebula make my ass look fat? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-01-06 12:06 |
| #1 Start the fat tax on the galaxy. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-01-06 11:30 |