The Milky Way is twice the size we thought it was
It took just a couple of hours using data available on the internet for University of Sydney scientists to discover that the Milky Way is twice as wide as previously thought.
Astrophysicist Professor Bryan Gaensler led a team that has found that our galaxy – a flattened spiral about 100,000 light years across – is 12,000 light years thick, not the 6,000 light years that had been previously thought.
Proving not all science requires big, expensive apparatus, Professor Gaensler and colleagues, Dr Greg Madsen, Dr Shami Chatterjee and PhD student Ann Mao, downloaded data from the internet and analysed it in a spreadsheet.
“We were tossing around ideas about the size of the Galaxy, and thought we had better check the standard numbers that everyone uses. It took us just a few hours to calculate this for ourselves. We thought we had to be wrong, so we checked and rechecked and couldn’t find any mistakes.”
ha, silly scientists! galaxies are not mentioned in bible and therefore do not exist.
duh.
Actually grog, the problem is these scientists do act like bible thumpers.
If they got this wrong, as always I take the rest of their conjectures with a grain of salt.
(only they wouldn’t call them conjectures).
These findings will give us something to brag about at the next intergalactic council.
Exactly. Many scientists (especially U prof’s) seem more like priests than scientists. This story is just an example of why it is okay (and required )to question theories that haven’t been 110% proven.
Anyone who would then complain or try to silence those who question should never be allowed to “teach”.
Ack! Damn you and your silly pictures!
I may just be tired, since it’s 8 AM, but I read the first paragraph thinking that people at the University of Sydney had spent hours researching and running tests on new Milky Way Midnight bars and discovering that they are twice as wide as previously speculated.
#2 & #4==dopes on parade. No understanding at all of the scientific method so you equate it with religion as the ony basis you have to understand the world. Upshot is that religion and science is “the same” just as scientists and priests are the same just as having unshakeable faith in a dogma is the same as always questioning and revising your data.
Yea dolts, its all the same. PS–even 110% proven facts are subject to revision when a better idea comes along. This ain’t religion.
But, but, but, science is infallible. Scientists “proved” we’re all gonna freeze to death from global warming didn’t they?
That’s how science works.
As usual #6 resorts to name calling when the priesthood is questioned. LOL!
#6,
You know, I was at the bad astronomy board a couple of years ago, hard core skeptics every one, and I was pointing out faults with their conclusions based upon their assumptions and I am headed over there to watch them eat some humble pie right now. It seems more than one person over there made me a bet that astronomy was basically dead on correct in its estimates a few thousand light years out. Some of them even thought that held true at the mega-light year distances.
Guess they were wrong.
On the other hand, they will all acknowledge their mistake instead of stick their fingers in their ears and say “lalalalalalal I CANT HEAR YOU lalalalallalalal” the way the religiously insane do.
Boy, I hope global warming doesn’t turn out to be twice as big as previously anticipated.
So much for consensus.
Nice. The professor used a different measuring stick and now people are saying scientists are priest. I suppose this also happened when scientist used different measuring techniques to fine tune the value of the speed of light.
Of course, now some scientist will have to remeasure the distance to the pulsars that Astrophysicist Professor Bryan Gaensler used in his calculations. Maybe the pulsars are further out than thought.
Well at least they checked and rechecked!
This is an exciting discovery, as it trashes some theories while bolstering others.
Five years ago a ring of stars was discovered that encircles the Milky Way, boosting its diameter from approx. 100,000 ly to 120,000 ly. Astronomers are now trying to determine whether this ring is the result of a galactic collision millenia ago, or the result of gravitational effects within the galaxy.
http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/gal-ring.htm
So now, were longer and have more girth. Take that, Andromeda!
Does this mean the Milky Way needs to go on a diet?
#9–patrick==ok, you got me, although I don’t think YOU are being very nice either to say that I am name calling. If you attack a person rather than the accuracy of what is said, it matters little if you do it by name or by description.
I only wish I could have come up with something more descriptive myself to really capture the mindset of someone that would equate adherents of religion to adherents of science.
I agree, I certainly didn’t do it justice.
This does mean that Eric Idle will need to revise the lyrics to The Galaxy Song.
#4, that’s ignorance itself. Theories are never ‘proven,’ ‘proof’ is for religion. Science and religion will always differ in that the the former will revise its conclusions when evidence shows the facts to be different than assumed, while religion just resorts to apologetics to explain why the belief dsoesn’t fit the facts.
Goes to show that we need to belive the bible, not foolish scientists who can’t even get the galaxy sizing right!
Next thing you know they will claim the galaxy is round, not flat.
Some guy at Slashdot said it’s no big deal. Sort of like the size of the Solar System can be said to be different if we stop at Pluto or count the comets, which can go really far out. Another example would be the size of the Earth — do you count the atmosphere, and if you do, where does that end?