The Milky Way Is Much Less Massive Than Previous Thought

schwit1 writes: New research by astronomers suggests that the Milky Way is about half as massive as previously estimated. It was thought to be roughly the same mass as Andromeda, weighing in at approximately 1.26 x 10^12 solar masses (PDF). This new research indicates its mass is around half the mass of Andromeda. "Galaxies in the Local Group are bound together by their collective gravity. As a result, while most galaxies, including those on the outskirts of the Local Group, are moving farther apart due to expansion, the galaxies in the Local Group are moving closer together because of gravity. For the first time, researchers were able to combine the available information about gravity and expansion to complete precise calculations of the masses of both the Milky Way and Andromeda. ... Andromeda had twice as much mass as the Milky Way, and in both galaxies 90 percent of the mass was made up of dark matter."

Comments

Re:Sponsored by Mars Candies:

[hairyfeet]

It AIN'T the men, its the stupid as hell clothing industry thinking any guy besides metrosexuals give a rat's ass about that. I don't know how many guys I've talked to the past few years that are ROYALLY PISSED that they can't just go into a store and grab a pair of size whatever and know it'll fit. We don't care if you call it a 37 or an ummagumma just STICK TO IT so we can just walk in and buy a pair of damned pants without having to try shit on like the girls...is that REALLY so much to ask for?

As for TFA? The correct answer is "we don't know shit, it'll probably change, but for now the number pulled out our collective asses is". hell they can't even make the math work without "dark" this and "dark" that which should automatically be replaced with a little stick figure shrugging its shoulders. I think the only thing we can truly say for certain is how things work in this one little teeny tiny itsy bitsy area, anything else? Its just wild guesses with a LOT of question marks in there.