How do we know what the milky way looks like if we are in it? - General

[QUOTE=The Chef;18500137]I think I heard when I was in 5th grade that Voyager 1 or something passed through the outer edge of the Milky Way...[/QUOTE] Nope, but it is out of the solar system. I don't think you quite know the sheer scale of space. The closest star other than the sun, Alpha Centauri, is three [i]lightyears[/i] away. That means that if we traveled at the speed of light, 1,079,252,850 km/h, which is the fastest thing ever recorded, it would take three years to get to Alpha Centauri. The space shuttle's top speed is 28,163.52 km/h. You can do the math. And that's just our next-door neighbor.

[QUOTE=DarkCybrid;18500382]But i said it's too far for our radio transmitters to transmit that far :pseudo:[/QUOTE] No, It would be weak, but it would definitely go that far. What, would the radio waves just stop dead in their tracks?

[QUOTE=Analog;18500356] 75 years to get across the galaxy @ speed of light. Forgot to mention that. [/QUOTE] That can't be right. We're about 25,000 [i]light years[/i] from the center, if I'm not mistaken, and we're not even all the way out.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy#Observation_history]Are you really this lazy?[/url]

[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;18500100]That's just Andromeda. [/QUOTE] Heh, that's my wallpaper.

[QUOTE=Analog;18500415]No, It would be weak, but it would definitely go that far. What, would the radio waves just stop dead in their tracks?[/QUOTE] No, but it would definitely dissipate (spelling?)

[QUOTE=RandomE;18500447]That can't be right. We're about 25,000 [i]light years[/i] from the center, if I'm not mistaken, and we're not even all the way out.[/QUOTE] Shit. Thanks for the fact check. Lol its been two years since astro class. Now I'm sitting here trying to remember whats significant and 80ish light years away.

You really thought the galaxy was only 75 light years in diameter?

[QUOTE=ManningQB18;18500315]What? Hitler isn't cool![/QUOTE] he means its cool that if there is anyone out there they might pick up hitler =D

p sure we've sent a satellite out there

It's unlikely the radio signal survive far outside the system. They'd get distorted and absorbed by interstellar dust as well as distortion caused by distance. You need powerful transmitters to survive into deep space. And we know our relative shape and location from observing other stars and galaxy. We can estimate our own position by looking at the local group.

i dunno about knowing what the milky way looks like but you can see it because it's so big that it's everywhere around our solar system

[QUOTE=Waals Vander;18500697]p sure we've sent a satellite out there[/QUOTE] No.

i dont know man i think we haaaavveee [editline]11:03PM[/editline] okay nevermind we havent. we have gotten close though.

We get the look from common galaxies around us, and from what we are able to see of it.

[QUOTE=Waals Vander;18500775]i dont know man i think we haaaavveee [editline]11:03PM[/editline] okay nevermind we havent. we have gotten close though.[/QUOTE] We've gotten close to sending a satellite outside of milky way? To which the edge is over 20,000 light years away? Yeah, no.

Ok, do you want the short answer, or the long answer.

[QUOTE=Gunner th;18500733]It's unlikely the radio signal survive far outside the system. They'd get distorted and absorbed by interstellar dust as well as distortion caused by distance. You need powerful transmitters to survive into deep space. And we know our relative shape and location from observing other stars and galaxy. We can estimate our own position by looking at the local group.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.law.columbia.edu/ipimages/Information_technology/images/checkmark.png[/img]

We use Space candles (Supernovea type 1(I believe)) to mesure the Light spectrum(Red,Blue shift) from pretty much all the stars in our galaxy and with that we can calculate the distance from us from the center(We believe that a super massive black hole which is billion and billion times our solar system masses)Knowing where our galatic center is and knowing the distances from other stars we can map out our galaxy But it's way more complicated then that

[img]http://blueollie.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/you_are_here_galaxy.jpg[/img]

Because there are only a few more trillion out there just like ours...

All answers in this thread have been wrong. Correct answer is radio telescopes. I will now go about calling people out on their ignorant comments. [editline]08:28PM[/editline] [QUOTE=genyus;18501051][b]1.[/b]We use Space candles (Supernovea type 1(I believe)) to mesure the Light spectrum(Red,Blue shift) from pretty much all the stars in our galaxy and with that we can calculate the distance from us from the center[b]2.[/b](We believe that a super massive black hole which is billion and billion times our solar system masses)Knowing where our galatic center is and knowing the distances from other stars we can map out our galaxy But it's way more complicated then that[/QUOTE] 1. Those supernovae are used to measure the distance to galaxies. And blue and red shift is used to determine how fast something is moving towards or away from you. 2. We don't believe there's one, we know there's one.

[QUOTE=dryer-lint;18501157]All answers in this thread have been wrong. Correct answer is radio telescopes. I will now go about calling people out on their ignorant comments. 1. Those supernovae are used to measure the distance to galaxies. And blue and red shift is used to determine how fast something is moving towards or away from you. 2. We don't believe there's one, we know there's one.[/QUOTE] That only proves the location and size. Not the look. The look is assumed by the look of the other galaxies mixed in with the placements of the stars and planets in the milky way.

[quote=Gunner th]It's unlikely the radio signal survive far outside the system. They'd get distorted and absorbed by interstellar dust as well as distortion caused by distance. You need powerful transmitters to survive into deep space. And we know our relative shape and location from observing other stars and galaxy. We can estimate our own position by looking at the local group.[/quote] [quote=DarkCybrid][img]http://www.law.columbia.edu/ipimages/Information_technology/images/checkmark.png[/img][/quote] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1dDzTKFhN0[/media] Video ©Wakka

[QUOTE=dryer-lint;18501261][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1dDzTKFhN0[/media][/QUOTE] K

[QUOTE=Analog;18500356]Yeah our nearest star is just about getting word of the Indonesian tsunami. [editline]10:38PM[/editline] [b]75[/b] years to get across the galaxy @ speed of light. Forgot to mention that. Yeah it would take a very long time for a probe to go that far, if it takes 40ish years just to get out of the solar system. To put things into context, if the sun is a golf ball in NYC, the nearest star is a basketball in Chicago. Earth is a grain of sand two block away.[/QUOTE] Mmmm try 100,000.

A space giant told us.

[QUOTE=The Chef;18500137]I think I heard when I was in 5th grade that Voyager 1 or something passed through the outer edge of the Milky Way...[/QUOTE] Solar system more like. [editline]08:37PM[/editline] [QUOTE=DarkCybrid;18500382]But i said it's too far for our radio transmitters to transmit that far :pseudo:[/QUOTE] But stars create their own radio waves. :ese:

[QUOTE=lemon_lover;18500174]I'm pretty sure that's just the glint of his katana as he fights the devil.[/QUOTE] Everyone who rated me dumb is dumb. You couldn't possibly think I was serious. I mean the post I was ridiculing seemed preposterous enough.

[QUOTE=lemon_lover;18501367]Everyone who rated me dumb is dumb. You couldn't possibly think I was serious. I mean the post I was ridiculing seemed preposterous enough.[/QUOTE] Sounded pretty serious to me.