Starship Asterisk*

Somebody please explain this to me.The Milky Way is 100k light years across.Our neighbor ,Adromeda is 200k light years across. With Adromeda being only 2 and 1/2 light years from us it has proven hard to imagine these figures to all be somewhat correct. If you stack these two very large bodys together, then seperate them by only 2 and 1/2 light years ,it seems that Adromeda would/ should be far more dominate in our sky.How close would one be for Adromeda at 200 LY across for that view to domionate our night sky?

rdhutson wrote:Somebody please explain this to me.The Milky Way is 100k light years across.Our neighbor ,Andromeda is 200k light years across. With Adromeda being only 2 and 1/2 light years from us it has proven hard to imagine these figures to all be somewhat correct. If you stack these two very large bodys together, then seperate them by only 2 and 1/2 light years ,it seems that Adromeda would/ should be far more dominate in our sky.How close would one be for Adromeda at 200 LY across for that view to domionate our night sky?

Andromeda is 141 ± 3 kly wide
and 2,540 ± 60 kly distant.

Andromeda is 2 and 1/2 Million light years away

Two million, five hundred and forty thousand kly((kly being the distance that light travels in a thousand year period))is two thousand, five hundred and forty, times one thousand, which equals two million five hundred and forty thousand, give or take 60 kly, which is sixty times one thousand, which equals 60,000 light years. Therefore, Andromeda is between two million four hundred and eighty thousand light years away and three million light years away.

Isn't 2540 +/- 60kly distant easier to say? YES, it is, but not as much fun as trying to keep the words straight!

And speaking of words -- Who spelled Galaxy -->Galexy??

Beyond wrote:Isn't 2540 +/- 60kly distant easier to say?

I don't know that it's easier to say, you would say it the same. It is easier to write.

not as much fun as trying to keep the words straight!

And you didn't succeed! You started on the wrong foot.

Two million, five hundred and forty thousand kly

Should be
Two million, five hundred forty thousand ly
or
Two thousand, five hundred forty kly

Note: and indicates a decimal point, e.g. 2.54 is two and fifty four hundredths.

THAT's why i said the the 'short' version is easier!
#1- I can't spel worth a darn.
#2- i can't tipe.
#3- covers all the 'missteaks' that come from #'s 1 & 2.
#4- Well, at least i spelled Galaxy rite.