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Scientists Discover Bigger, Faster Milky Way

Scientists revise image of our galaxy

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 6, 2009 2:42 AM CST
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(Newser) – A study of the Milky Way using radio telescopes scattered across the US paints a new and dramatically different picture of our galaxy, reports Space.com. Our spiral-shaped galaxy is not only spinning faster than previously thought, it has 50% greater mass, with two hitherto unknown spiral arms where many new young stars are being formed.

A team from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used a system of 10 radio-telescopes stretching from Hawaii to New England and the Caribbean known as the Very Long Baseline Array to reconfigure our map of the galaxy. In a separate development, NASA released a striking new image that is the sharpest infrared view ever taken of the Milky Way's core.

The latest view of the Milky Way by scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows our galaxy may not be the compact collection of stars astronomers long thought it to be.
The latest view of the Milky Way by scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows our galaxy may not be the compact collection of stars astronomers long thought it to be.   (AP Photo/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Robert Hurt, Mark Reid)
A newly-released image from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes show the Milky Way's core and reveals a new population of massive stars.
A newly-released image from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes show the Milky Way's core and reveals a new population of massive stars.   (Hubblesite)
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Milky Way: Our galaxy now 50% bigger and with four arms
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Milky Way 50 percent larger
Wired

Milky Way now larger in size
Scientific American

 
Milky Way • Spitzer orbiting telescope • Very Long Baseline Array • National Science Foundation • American Astronomical Society • Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics • Andromeda Galaxy • cosmic masers

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