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The Milky Way is Not a Spiral?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-now-i-don't-believe-in-nothin' dept.

ETEQ writes "Space.com reports that new data from the Spitzer Space Telescope showing that the Milky Way is in fact a barred spiral! Looks like all our old astronomy textbooks will have to be thrown away..."

1 of 594 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not Exactly by the_mighty_$ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the submitter had actually read the article....no, I guess that's too much to ask.

    Quote FTA "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." (emphasis mine)

    In other words, the news isn't that they just discovered the Milky War is a bared spiral galaxy, the news is that the Milky Way's bar is 7,000 light-years longer than scientists thought.

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