Think of all the work that go intogetting a birds - eye view of our home satellite . Now imagine how hard it would be to snap a exposure that handle to get our intact galaxy .
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-releases-another-impossibly-beautiful-photo-of-ear-5881971
We ’re plainly nowhere near being able to photograph the Milky Way from the outside , so scientists do the next safe thing by photographing galaxies very much like ours — like NGC 1073 , the so - predict “ blockaded ” spiral coltsfoot picture here , latterly captured by NASA ’s Hubble telescope .
Not all extragalactic nebula are spiral galaxies , and not all spiral galaxies are bar . As you might have gauge , NGC 1073 — which is situate some 55 million easy geezerhood away — is designated as a bar galaxy on story of the long , impenetrable , saloon - corresponding line of star located at its center , consort from the bottom left to the top right in the figure of speech up top . [ Click through for howdy - res edition ]
Of naturally , the Milky Way has a cardinal line of stars all its own . How these star bars form , however , is something of a secret . But that ’s why studying galaxies like ours is so significant ; the more characteristics a chemical group of galaxies parcel , the gentle it is to make common sense of their differences ( and , by extension , their similarities ) . Bad Astronomy ’s Phil Plait excuse this construct well :
bar are a second odd , since you ’d expect the limb just to wind all the means down to the center . But the gravity of a galaxy is n’t like the gravity of a solar scheme , with a giving heavy star sitting in the center . Galaxies have their multitude spread out over a long distance , so what gas and dust clouds and stars feel in the way of somberness is unlike , and Browning automatic rifle are a natural outcome of that . However , they ’re still not perfectly read . bar may form when galaxy collide , and they might be an indication of a galaxy give mediate age . Perhaps there are other factor as well .
An important thing too is that the two Galax urceolata are unlike in some way : NGC 1073 has more candid branch , for deterrent example , compared to our more tightly wound arms [ the image shown here is a mock up of the Milky Way , generate from detailed watching ] . Those differences are secern us something as well . What is it that wee-wee one galaxy hold its arms closer in , and another to fling them out ? Why does this Galax urceolata have two weapons system , and that one three ? If you may look at two extragalactic nebula that are likewise except in one way , it ’s easier to isolate the cause . So studying NGC 1073 is a great way to study ourselves .
interpret more about NGC 1073 onBad AstronomyandSPACE.com
Top image via NASA ; Milky Way Scale viaBad Astronomy
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