Centre of Galaxy

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Destroyer, Sep 19, 2006.

  1. Destroyer Banned Banned

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    Where would I need to look if I wanted to look toward the center of the Galaxy?

    And what is in the center?
     
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  3. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    Isn't it somewhere in Saggitarius? Some believe there is a black hoole at the centre
     
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  5. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    You mean you don't know?
     
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  7. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    It is in motion in free space - there is no fixed reference point - any computation will be false the instant it is calculated - calculation irrelevant.

    Approximation IS acceptable.
     
  8. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    Relative to us, where is it?
     
  9. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    Approximately Right ascension 17 : 45.6

    Declination -28 : 56 (deg : m)

    Distance 28 (kly)
     
  10. Novacane Registered Senior Member

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    If you get close to the center of our galaxy and start to feel a little tug or two on your head and shoulders, then forget about the weekend.
     
  11. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    Knowing you men, it won't be your head and shoulders you'll be worried about.
     
  12. sderenzi Banned Banned

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    I'm not sure what the center of the galaxy is, and appearantly niether is anyone else here. I suspect that it's a massive singularity that is exerting a gravitational force on the solar systems to keep them together so they won't go off spiraling into space.

    If you are approaching the center would you freak, I would!
     
  13. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    From your (mis)use of the English language I take it you are an American?
     
  14. Novacane Registered Senior Member

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    Yea......I guess you're right. You can stretch a good thing to far sometimes.

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  15. Billy T Use Sugar Cane Alcohol car Fuel Valued Senior Member

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    A combination undertaker and tax collector.
     
  16. Novacane Registered Senior Member

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    In terms of our galaxy, it is the point of 'No Return'.

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  17. Megabrain Registered Senior Member

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    The original question was something like "where do I need to look to see the centre of the galaxy". The moderators may wish to note I am the only contributor to this thread who has actually answered this question. Other contributions have varied between moronic and sarcastic.
     
  18. Novacane Registered Senior Member

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    On the so-called 'Contribution Scale' from 1 to 10, Moronic is '1' and Sarcastic is '10'. That means your contribution is somewhere between. Right? Please clarify

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    Last edited: Sep 23, 2006
  19. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    Why not try looking towards the center of the Milky Way. It's around that direction somewhere. It'll take a while to get there however, even travelling at near light speed.
     
  20. Novacane Registered Senior Member

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    Yea.......About 28,000 years and a few food and fuel stops along the way. Make sure and take along an extra can or two of coffee just to be safe.

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  21. Maast AF E-7 Retired Registered Senior Member

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    Well, from here you can't really see the center, too much gas and dust in the way, you can see a bit in the infrared and radio spectums though and its a hell of a show.

    Assuming you have a means of getting there... at about 1500 light years away you'd see (from your perspective) a wall of light covering 85 degrees of your field of vision. The light would come from the million + stars in the galactic core region illuminating all the cosmic crap floating around (gas and dust) ejected from previous supernovas, in fact you'll probably see a few stellar novas going on.
    There'd be red and blue points of lights here and there (supergiants) and the occasional green areas (enriched gas clouds). You'll be seeing 5th or so generation stars that are highly enriched with heavier elements.

    You might even be able to see the accretion disk of the supergiant black hole at the center of our galaxy, it would look like a brighter bar across 5 degrees of your field of vision at the center.

    Unfortunately by the time you took the time to take it all in you'd probably be dead from high energy radiation and extremely high speed ionized nuclei (cosmic rays) saturating the area.

    Take a look at: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~tanner/gcintro.html
     
  22. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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  23. Pete It's not rocket surgery Registered Senior Member

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    Thanks super, very nice.

    If you can find Scorpio and Sagittarius, you can find the direction of the center of the galaxy. If you go to a dark sky site during good weather with no moon, the view of the Milky Way is pretty breathtaking:

    Click the image for a larger copy with the contellations outlined.
    <img src="http://www.utahskies.org/image_library/deepsky/misc/20050701/southernSummerConstellations_1200x800_GC.jpg" width=600 height=400>

    Here's another view, closer to what you see with the naked eye in a good location (this one is taken from the Southern hemisphere, I think):

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