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Milky Way Gets Bigger

FU_Fish writes "Australian scientists have discovered a new arm reaching out from our beloved Milky Way. The arm is 60,000 light years away from the center of the galaxy and roughly 6,500 light years thick. I guess my dream of visiting every star in our galaxy just got a bit tougher."

6 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. That Ain't No Bird's-Eye View! by PateraSilk · · Score: 4, Informative

    The picture they chose for the article looks more like a typical shot of the core in Sagittarius from Earth. "Bird's-eye view" in this context would probably mean "seen from galactic north".

    --
    Danke tres mucho, tovarishch.
  2. Re:Hubble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    (pedantic...)
    Don't you mean the far side of the moon? All parts of the moon get sunlight.

  3. Re:Hubble by shane_rimmer · · Score: 4, Informative

    The dark side of the moon gets plenty of sunlight when the moon is between Earth and Sol.

    Look here for more information about why we always see the same part of the moon

  4. Ha! by Sandmann · · Score: 5, Funny

    In your face, Andromeda!

  5. Re:Hubble by Russ+Steffen · · Score: 4, Informative

    It actually doesn't matter all that much. Since there's no atmosphere there, you can still do a lot of optical observations during the lunar day. Only objects that appear near the sun would be off limits. The real advantage to the moon, though, would be for radio astronomy - the far side is quite well shielded from earth's radio noise.

  6. Hitchhiker's Guide by hound3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I guess my dream of visiting every star in our galaxy just got a bit tougher."

    Yes, but are you going to insult everybody in it? Individually, personally, one by one, and by alphabetical order?

    I miss Douglas Adams