[LibWhacker]

Article is six months old, but has never been posted. The obvious question is: What about the Milky Way, which rotates once every ~250M years??

[InABunkerUnderSF]

What about the Milky Way, which rotates once every ~250M years??

The earth orbits the center of the galaxy once every 225 to 250 million years. Presumably the black hole at the center rotates much faster and spiral arms further out go somewhat slower.

We've been observing galactic rotation for about 90 years. I'm not sure we have enough data to say for sure how fast any galaxy rotates. But ask me again in about 30 million years. :o)

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The Milky Way is only in 2nd gear.

[P.O.E.]

Nice to know that at this age, the universe is still regular.

[Campion]

They’re talking about disk galaxies. The Milky Way is believed to be a barred spiral galaxy, not a disk. Lacking the ability to see the whole thing from a distance of course, it’s somewhat of an educated guess.

[cranked]

Short of a miracle of science or God, my lifespan is less than a hundred years, so a BILLION years means what to me again?!!! @.@

[blam]

There Is A Rogue Group Of Stars Behaving Very Suspiciously In The Milky Way's Disk

[Moonman62]

These galaxies differed in both size and rotational velocity by up to a factor of 30. With these velocity measurements, the researchers were able to calculate the rotational period of their sample galaxies, which led them to conclude that the outer rims of all disk galaxies take roughly a billion years to complete one rotation.

...

The key to this study is they are only looking at the outer rims. FReepers who only read the headlines won’t know this.

[FatherofFive]

they discovered a significant population of much older stars mingling with the young stars and gas.

pedophile stars? Just like Hollywood

[Born to Conserve]

They rotate faster than that toward their centers, and slower than that toward their periphery. Somewhere between they ALL rotate at THAT rate. They call this the “selection fallacy”.

I’m sure there are Federal grants involved.

[trebb]

I guess that there is a difference between spiral and disk galaxies...wonder what frequency disk galaxies do/don't adhere to.

Seems that the bigger the galaxy, the faster the spin...maybe due to the dynamics of the extra mass...

[BitWielder1]

The fact that they form spiral patterns suggests the galaxies does not rotate as solid disks.

[Larry Lucido]

They get an even tan that way.

[minnesota_bound]

#1 The Milky Way needs a new black hole to power itself.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*