Discovered: The Milky Way Galaxy has two (2) spiral arms!

[agent46]

or...
Two Of The Milky Way's Spiral Arms Go Missing
Science Daily (Jun. 3, 2008)

For decades, astronomers have been blind to what our galaxy, the Milky Way, really looks like. After all, we sit in the midst of it and can't step outside for a bird's eye view.

Now, new images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are shedding light on the true structure of the Milky Way, revealing that it has just two major arms of stars instead of the four it was previously thought to possess.

"Spitzer has provided us with a starting point for rethinking the structure of the Milky Way," said Robert Benjamin of the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, who presented the new results at a press conference today at the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in St. Louis, Mo. "We will keep revising our picture in the same way that early explorers sailing around the globe had to keep revising their maps."

Since the 1950s, astronomers have produced maps of the Milky Way. The early models were based on radio observations of gas in the galaxy, and suggested a spiral structure with four major star-forming arms, called Norma, Scutum-Centaurus, Sagittarius and Perseus. In addition to arms, there are bands of gas and dust in the central part of the galaxy. Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080603160245.htm

It amazes me how scientists are able to map an external view of our own galaxy from the inside!

[Poll_Blind]

1. They should keep Sagittarius and Scrotum-Centaurus. Those are the cooler names.

:evilgrin:

PB

[agent46]

2. Damn! Rockstar all over the keyboard!!!

:spray:
rotflmao!
Scrotum Centaurus sounds like a painful condition. Quick! Somebody call a vet!
:evilgrin:

[Vilis Veritas]

4. Rockstar, the energy drink?

Michael Savage's son owns that company...every dollar goes to help support that windbag...

Just saying...peace.

edited for link...sorry...

http://www.thetruthaboutrockstar.com/

[agent46]

6. RedBull actually...

...but RedBull spray all over the keyboard would have made the whole thing somehow...even more painful. YaknowwadImean???

:hippie:

(And yeah. Ten-four on the Michael Savage support fund.)

[Vilis Veritas]

7. Yep...Especially if there was vodka in it...

The only way to fly...;-)

[Jakes Progress]

3. That part amazes me too.

"It amazes me how scientists are able to map an external view of our own galaxy from the inside!"

And not just from inside, but with much less than one degree of angle to view it. Bigger brains than I.

[tridim]

5. I've always wondered why "God" didn't just draw a picture of our galaxy in the Bible.

Oddly, he didn't even mention it at all.

[geckosfeet]

8. Yes - he could have drawn it in the sand when talking to Moses as a burning bush.

What an inconsiderate bastard - making us think this stuff out for ourselves.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. It's more edumacational that way. Builds character, too. nt

[baby_mouse]

9. He could also have mentioned uranium while he was at it.

I've often thought of uranium and its cousins as one of Gods "loose ends" swept under the carpet.