Living at the edge of the Milky Way
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 2:58 am
I have a fairly simple theoretical question. If our Sun were at the very edge of our galaxy, how would our night sky look? I asked this question on Yahoo forums and got answers like "We ARE at the edge of our galaxy." I'm sure the people in this forum are much better informed...
My thinking is that one half of the sky (which half depends on the orientation of the axis of the earth's rotation) would be completely black to the naked eye, except for some distant galaxies. In other words, on a dark night, with no moon or stars, we might see other galaxies with the naked eye. As you looked away from the darkness, the density of visible stars would gradually increase, until you were looking toward the galactic center.
If the earth's axis were pointed directly toward the galactic center, and we called that north, then in the northern hemisphere you'd have no starless area of the sky - only almost-starless near the horizon. But in the southern hemisphere you'd have a largely starless area above you, and at the south pole it would always be starless. At 45 degrees south you'd see a small density of stars near the horizon (for 45 degrees) when looking north.
Does that seem right?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
My thinking is that one half of the sky (which half depends on the orientation of the axis of the earth's rotation) would be completely black to the naked eye, except for some distant galaxies. In other words, on a dark night, with no moon or stars, we might see other galaxies with the naked eye. As you looked away from the darkness, the density of visible stars would gradually increase, until you were looking toward the galactic center.
If the earth's axis were pointed directly toward the galactic center, and we called that north, then in the northern hemisphere you'd have no starless area of the sky - only almost-starless near the horizon. But in the southern hemisphere you'd have a largely starless area above you, and at the south pole it would always be starless. At 45 degrees south you'd see a small density of stars near the horizon (for 45 degrees) when looking north.
Does that seem right?
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)