Hey all;
I recently heard someone (i think it was on a quiz show) refer to the Andromeda galaxy as the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, and it set off my b.s. detctor. I thought of the LMC and SMC, but then i wasn't sure if perhaps they could be argued to be attached to our galaxy. So i turned to Celestia.
I selected the Milky Way, scrolled way out beyond the range of Andromeda, and right-clicked and rotated everything around a bit. had to set the visible magnitude threshold pretty much to it's highest setting to see things properly out there, but i quickly discovered that the quiz question was dead wrong.
My second thought was, "Oh my god, there are a lot of galaxies." And my third thought was, "why are there such huge gaps with no galaxies at all?" Then i decided to turn the Milky Way onto it's side, and right-click and roll it over on it's axis. Which revealed that the huge gaps in distant galaxies actually correspond to the plane of the Milky Way.
So, i thought i'd ask, though the answer seems really obvious; is this because the Milky Way blocks distant galaxies from view? And if so, why does it seem to block galaxies in the Orion arm direction just as much as those in the Saggitarius direction (i.e. through the bulk of our galaxy) - shouldn't the bulk of our galaxy block more stuff? And thirdly; could there be very, very close galaxies (in the Sagitarrius direction at least) that we wouldn't even know about, even if they were right next door (even as close as the SMC & LMC)?
And, my fourth question; any recommendations for taking a tour through extragalactic space? What other features do you think might be interesting to take a look at out here?
Playing in extragalactic space
Yes the question was wrong. It would have been correct had they used the word "spiral" though.
Our galaxy does indeed obscure our satellite galaxies. The discovery of several new satellites to the Milky Way was announced recently. Let me dig up the right link.
In the mean time here's a list of many of the members of the Local Group. http://www.seds.org/MESSIER/more/local.html
Edit:
Ok, here it is.
Our galaxy does indeed obscure our satellite galaxies. The discovery of several new satellites to the Milky Way was announced recently. Let me dig up the right link.
In the mean time here's a list of many of the members of the Local Group. http://www.seds.org/MESSIER/more/local.html
Edit:
Ok, here it is.