Posted on 09/29/2018 4:50:31 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Seems that the bigger the galaxy, the faster the spin...maybe due to the dynamics of the extra mass...
But I wonder if this new finding is going to tell them anything about dark matter that they didn't know before? I mean, it seems like it's a pretty significant discovery... The outer regions of every disk galaxy rotating once every billion years, regardless of mass, etc. Really bizarre.
No problem. We’re all here to try to help each other understand. Don’t hesitate to correct me if you find me messing up on something!
I don’t think it’s all that unexpected. My unscientific feeling is this just confirms what they already know, dark matter dominates. And the outer bands only contain a small amount of the mass in a galaxy. Notice in my graphic that the measurement uses hydrogen gas for the outer bands.
I think the value of this new finding is represented by this statement:
“This is an important result because knowing where a galaxy ends means we astronomers can limit our observations and not waste time, effort, and computer processing power on studying data from beyond that point,” said Meurer.
Other than that, I'm just really having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
I see the sun's coming up. Time for me to hit the sack. Cheers!
You’re probably right about that. Whenever I read about something in science that I don’t understand (which is quite often nowadays), I expect it’ll to lead to some kind of breakthrough. It never does, lol.
They get an even tan that way.
“It’s as if every disk-like galaxy were a giant phonograph record, everything rotating in lock-step.”
Not so.
That is 10 million human lifetimes to rotate around disk galaxy.
Your 10 millionth great grandparent lived in the identical cosmic neighborhood.
You are right, thx! I read that somewhere... should’ve known!
Check this out...
https://gizmodo.com/5953694/this-stunning-nasa-simulation-shows-a-galaxys-entire-life-history
Wow, very cool! Loved it.
*ping*
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. APoD ping.
Are you saying the Milky Way is the "little Nash Rambler" of galaxies?
A Nash Rambler?
GMTA
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