High-precision measurements of the Milky Way disclose our galaxy is rotating about 100,000 miles per hour faster than previously understood. That increase in speed, said Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, increases the Milky Way’s mass by 50 percent.
The larger mass, in turn, means a greater gravitational pull that increases the likelihood of collisions with the Andromeda galaxy or smaller nearby galaxies. So even though we're faster, we're also heavier and more likely to be annihilated. Bummer!
Trigonometric parallax was first used in 1838 to measure the first stellar distance. However, with better technology, the accuracy is now about 10,000 times greater.
The scientists are using the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope to remake the map of the Milky Way. Taking advantage of the VLBA’s unparalleled ability to make extremely detailed images, the team is conducting a long-term program to measure distances and motions in our Galaxy.
The VLBA is a system of 10 radio-telescope antennas stretching from Hawaii to New England and the Caribbean. It has the best resolving power, of any astronomical tool in the world. The VLBA can routinely produce images hundreds of times more detailed than those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. The VLBA’s tremendous resolving power, equal to being able to read a newspaper in Los Angeles from the distance of New York, is what permits the astronomers to make precise distance determinations.
“These direct measurements are revising our understanding of the structure and motions of our Galaxy,” Menten said. "Because we’re inside it, it’s difficult for us to determine the Milky Way’s structure. For other galaxies, we can simply look at them and see their structure, but we can’t do this to get an overall image of the Milky Way. We have to deduce its structure by measuring and mapping,” he added.
Originally posted by MrVertigo
reply to post by peacejet
Ans if so doesn't this potentially alter the entire equation of the mass of the universe with regards to the expansion of our universe?
Meaning that dark energy & dark matter might be scrapped as it is no longer necessary to fill in blanks in order to make the equations come together.
Originally posted by wookiee
We won't be destroyed, just absorbed. Just like our galaxy, Sagittarius Minor, is being absorbed by the Milky Way.
Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Although the largest, it may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping.[7] However, recent observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion (1012) stars, greatly exceeding the number of stars in our own galaxy.[8] 2006 estimates put the mass of the Milky Way to be ~80% of the mass of Andromeda, which is estimated to be 7.1×1011 solar masses.[2]
Originally posted by MrVertigo
reply to post by peacejet
Meaning that dark energy & dark matter might be scrapped as it is no longer necessary to fill in blanks in order to make the equations come together.
According to their most detailed measurements yet, scientists admitted to having grossly underestimated the mass of the Milky Way, and so the gravitational pull it exerts on our cosmic neighbours, including the giant Andromeda galaxy.
The oversight means that the two galaxies, which are on a cataclysmic collision course, will slam into one another earlier than scientists had previously predicted. When the two galaxies meet, powerful shockwaves will compress interstellar gas clouds within them, triggering a dazzling flourish of newborn stars, in a last heavenly hurrah before the giant wreckage slowly dims and dies out.
The measurements showed that our solar system is hurtling along at 600,000mph, 100,000mph faster than thought. "These measurements are revising our understanding of the structure and motions of our galaxy," said Menten.
The speedier rotation of the galaxy means its mass must be similar to that of Andromeda, around 270bn times the mass of the sun, or 33% greater than earlier calculations have suggested. "No longer will we think of the Milky Way as the little sister of the Andromeda galaxy," said Reid. The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
Astronomers believe the crunch to end all crunches could happen around the same time our sun is due to burn up the last of its nuclear fuel, within the next 7bn years. It is highly unlikely that planets and stars will collide. Instead the two galaxies will merge to form a new, large galaxy.
Originally posted by MrVertigo
reply to post by Nicolas Flamel
Recent studies also indicate that odd socks originate from dark matter having swallowed the other half of the pair
Seriously, Dark matter and energy is used as the default answer whenever something is impossible to explain by the conventional models, which is ridiculous as both are, at best, highly theoretical constructs.
