Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Milky Way Heavier Than Thought, and Spinning Faster

Posted by kdawson on from the bulking-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Milky Way is spinning much faster and has 50 per cent more mass than previously believed. This means the Milky Way is equivalent in size to our neighbor Andromeda — instead of being the little sister in the local galaxy group, as had been believed. One implication of this new finding is that we may collide with Andromeda sooner than we had thought, in 2 or 3 billion years instead of 5."

14 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. The good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least now we don't have to worry about our sun going nova, we'll all die in an intergalactic traffic accident first.

    1. Re:The good news by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny

      At least now we don't have to worry about our sun going nova, we'll all die in an intergalactic traffic accident first. Probably not. Even when galaxies collide, the odds of something hitting the solar system are remote.

      But the night sky will look even prettier for the future cockroach decedents, if they have evolved enough to "look up" by then.

      Personally, I plan on being dead in a time span that measures in decades, not billions of years.

      --
      This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    2. Re:The good news by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope we're insured. Imagine if the other guy sues!

      --
      I hate printers.
    3. Re:The good news by click2005 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was hoping to win a Darwin Award in a few billion years for 'collided with another galaxy'

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
    4. Re:The good news by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny

      English is wonderfully ambiguous, at times (no pun intended).

      Given billions of years, either word could work, and neither will be relevant :-)

      --
      This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  2. I'll be counting the days by Kohath · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..on my Zune

  3. Declaration of inter-galactic hostilities by dfsmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, that'll show those Andromedans not to attack "smaller" galaxies. Now who's laughing! We will plunder their mass (while watching colateral ejected mass fly out).

  4. last chance for backup! by somewhere+in+AU · · Score: 5, Funny

    oh well.. still leaves plenty of time to debate which is the most robust backup method after all then?

  5. I for one... by alexborges · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thought I was drunk.

    Good to know it was the milky way spinning all too fast.

    --
    NO SIG
  6. Re:Science by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 4, Funny

    Still, it is nice to know we're not in the pipsqueak galaxy. Hoorah!?!?

    The Miiilky Waaay... Fuck, yeah!

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  7. Way Heavier Than Thought, and Spinning Faster by bobdotorg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ugh. Sounds like scientists just discovered my last blind date.

    --
    __ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
  8. Re:Good news everybody! by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tell that to the fat guy who got shot with a rifle round. He has a 600,000% weight advantage, yet he's still in ICU on a respirator.

    Fat man 0, Remington 1.

    --
    I hate printers.
  9. Re:From TFA by Quinapalus · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think my chemistry teacher would have taken off points for that one.

  10. Ahah! by sleeponthemic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Twice as heavy! Talk about getting it wrong.

    It's only a matter of time before the earth's age is readjusted to 6000 years!

    --
    I record my sleeptalking