buddyrowboat wrote:I like the "little discussed" link that leads you to a picture of Abbott and Costello but wish there was an actual link for the Norma Arm.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
Owlice,
Gosh! That picture, of a few leaves that represent our local space really bring home our insignificance in the Galaxy.
But Sam, there aren't really any objects to mark our local 'landmarks' - that pic has dots Photoshopped on it. When you think about it, on this scale an earring would reach halfway to Sirius, nearly nine light years away!
JohnD wrote:But Sam, there aren't really any objects to mark our local 'landmarks' - that pic has dots Photoshopped on it. When you think about it, on this scale an earring would reach halfway to Sirius, nearly nine light years away!
http://www.galaxygarden.net/mapping.html wrote:A small yellow crystal earring shows the position of our Earth and Sun, though our solar system is actually 1,000 times smaller than the jewel. Nearby bright stars are also shown with different colored jewels.
Perhaps I'm taking that too literally--does anyone know if Photoshop has a "small crystal earing" button?
"No avian society ever develops space travel because it's impossible to focus on calculus when you could be outside flying." -Randall Munroe
May i suggest NASA sent some dinamite to mars in a rover and do some in the dirt exploring while observing close by with the rover ? So what if the thing goes kablooye all at once. it would be fun, like a kid with a shovel discovering that ants live underground too.
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HAMLET: 'tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed;
__ things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.
..................................................
First Clown: Come, my spade. There is no ancient
__ gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers:
__ they hold up Adam's profession.
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____ King Henry VI, part II
CADE: And Adam was a gardener.
WILLIAM STAFFORD: And what of that?
..............................................
IDEN: Is't not enough to break into my garden,
__ And, like a thief, to come to rob my grounds,
__ Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner?
..............................................
QUEEN MARGARET: Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
__ Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden
__ And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
..............................................
CADE: Wither, garden; and be henceforth a
__ burying-place to all that do dwell in this house,
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_________ The Winter's Tale
POLIXENES: Then make your garden rich in gillyvors,
__ And do not call them bastards.
PERDITA: I'll not put
__ The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
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Did you notice the little pieces of bushes (arms), on the lower left and on the right, detached from the overall structure of the galaxy, do these actually exists?
buddyrowboat wrote:I like the "little discussed" link that leads you to a picture of Abbott and Costello but wish there was an actual link for the Norma Arm.
I've just viewed this APOD for the first time and that link brings up a Laurel and Hardy photo! The link must presumably have been changed at some stage for whatever reason.
FrankTKO wrote:
Did you notice the little pieces of bushes (arms), on the lower left and on the right, detached from the overall structure of the galaxy, do these actually exists?
[img3="This map of the galaxy is based on the work of astronomer Leo Blitz of UC Berkeley, who discovered the "bar" in the Milky Way's center. Blitz, along with National Air and Space Museum astronomer Jeff Goldstein, helped guide Jon Lomberg in mapping the galaxy for the NASM painting, "Portrait of The Milky Way". Dr. Blitz has since updated his maps of spiral structure to reflect the current best radio maps of hydrogen."]http://www.galaxygarden.net/images/gg_map_450.jpg[/img3]
<<Urban transit maps are wonderful tools: they are guides to traveling, they serve as mechanisms for distilling and abstracting a city down to a set of linkages and interconnections, and they are beautiful. The first 'modern' subway map is London's Tube Map, designed by Harry Beck. Since then, many cities have based their transit system map designs on its spare and elegant layout, such as Boston, New York, and Amsterdam.
In addition, these maps have been used to understand other, more idea-based, inter-relationships, such as modern music, creative and important people in history, web trends,and even the locations of all the subways in the world.
Here, I have attempted to do the same thing for our galaxy, the Milky Way. Our galaxy is unimaginably vast, and we really have no idea what is out there. We are discovering new planets in other star systems all the time, learning new facts about the galactic core, and even learning about whole new portions of the galaxy. This map is an attempt to approach our galaxy with a bit more familiarity than usual and get people thinking about long-term possibilities in outer space. Hopefully it can provide as a useful shorthand for our place in the Milky Way, the 'important' sights, and make inconceivable distances a bit less daunting. And while convenient interstellar travel is nothing more than a murky dream, and might always be that way, there is power in creating tools for beginning to wrap our minds around the interconnections of our galactic neighborhood.
I have attempted to actually make this map as accurate as possible, where each line corresponds to an arm of our galaxy, and the stations are actual places in their proper locations. However, I am not an astronomer or astrophysicist, so there are certainly inaccuracies, gaps, and room for improvement. If you have a suggestion, comment, or criticism, please to do not hesitate to contact me by emailing arbesman at gmail dot com.>>