Field of Science

That's a lot of stars; That's a lot of galaxies

Unless you've had a chance to get away from civilization, way away from civilization, you don't really know what the night time sky looks like because of light pollution. Years ago TPP found himself in the outback of northern Queensland at a quaint place called the 40-mile Scrub. So no lights, no clouds, no humidity, and it was amazing what you could see of this unfamiliar night sky. The scope of our galaxy and the universe it occupies is quite mind-boggling, the more so that this is a Monday morning when the mind is more easily boggled. At any rate here's a link to a photo essay about how many stars compose the Milky Way Galaxy (which BTW means milky). Personally, you should check the accuracy of this report because 200 billion sounds a bit off. And if that isn't enough, then here's a computer generated image of our local galactic super cluster, called Laniakea, and the tiny little dots aren't stars now but galaxies. The bright lines show more densely clustered galaxies, and remember the nearest similar galaxy, Andromeda, is 250 million light years away (and yes, that's not counting the 20 or so smaller galaxy like clusters of stars that are satellites of the Milky Way, e.g., Greater and Lesser Magellanic Clouds). See the nice little comforting "you are here" dot? My Garmin just melted down.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Visitors to my home in Maine, at the edge of the Bay of Fundy, stare at the evening sky, mesmerized by the sight of so many stars, more stars than they have ever seen. Photos of Earth from space show that we live in an area of so little light pollution that we seem to be nothing but a dark blotch. We love our dark, our star filled sky.

The Phytophactor said...

Well, when electricity finally reaches your part of the world, things will get a lot brighter.

Anonymous said...

Talking to someone who has lived off the grid for nearly 40 years, and to someone who has promoted restrictions on outdoor lighting - it isn't "electricity" that's a problem, it's using it sensibly. (Well, maybe hand pumping and carrying water is going too far, still . . . we do it.) Promote dark skies, restrict your outdoor lighting, shield lights on streets and buildings . . . sorry, I do rant!

The Phytophactor said...

You make a good case for "turning to the dark side".