When did the Milkey Way turn into a tavern??

[Saluki]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/13/martini.galaxy.reut/index.html

This is important because the Milky Way is also a barred galaxy, and studying bars could help determine how our own galaxy formed, said Patricia Knezek, an astronomer who works with the Kitt-Peak Observatories in Tucson, Arizona.

Last I checked, it was a spiral galaxy.

[Grey]

...studying bars could help determine how our own galaxy formed.
Note to self: Renew efforts to study galactic formation. :D

[jt-3d]

Stupid CNN, it's Millyways, the restaraunt at the end on the universe but I wouldn't expect CNN to know that.

[Grey]

Oh, and on a more serious note, I believe that recent observations have indeed suggested that the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy.

[Saluki]

That would be news to me. Do you have a link? I would think that if this is a recent finding, it should be mentioned in the story. I bet if you asked 10 non-astronomer astronomy buffs what type of galaxy the milky way is, you would get at least 9 answers of "spiral".

[jt-3d]

APOD (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050104.html) is always saying that. A barred spiral.

[WHarris]

IIRC, they were thinking that the Milky Way was a barred spiral back when I was studying at Villanova. And I graduated from there back in 1985.


:o (God, has it been twenty years already!)

[Cougar]

Twenty five years ago, astronomers thought the interstellar medium within our galaxy consisted of single atoms. But using radio telescopes and detectors sensitive to radiation emitted by molecules, "they found that 10 to 50 percent of the gas in our galaxy is molecular -- atoms stuck together -- and that it tends to cluster in giant clouds. About 99 percent of this gas is molecular hydrogen... but at least 53 other molecules have been detected, including ethyl alcohol, or vodka. The clouds of gas near the center of our galaxy contain enough vodka to fill more than 10,000 goblets the size of earth." [Heinz Pagels, Perfect Symmetry] (Emphasis added by the bartender.)

[A Thousand Pardons]

"... but at least 53 other molecules have been detected, including ethyl alcohol, or vodka."
I prefer to think of it as Maker's Mark

[Harvestar]

They've also found sugar in the bar of the Milky Way.

[Kebsis]

I believe a few bad puns are located there as well. :P

[crateris]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

[jfribrg]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

Don't know about that , but there is a nebulous region a bit lower than the belt.

[tjm220]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

Don't know about that , but there is a nebulous region a bit lower than the belt.

Stellar censorship. [-X :wink:

[Swift]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

Don't know about that , but there is a nebulous region a bit lower than the belt.

Stellar censorship. [-X :wink:
See what happens because of Janet Jackson and the FCC. :lol:

[Ut]

That would be news to me. Do you have a link? I would think that if this is a recent finding, it should be mentioned in the story. I bet if you asked 10 non-astronomer astronomy buffs what type of galaxy the milky way is, you would get at least 9 answers of "spiral".

The Milky Way is believed to be a barred spiral of classification SABbc.

See the models of Freudenrich (1998), or Binney & Gerhard (1997), or data from Blitz and Spergel (1991) (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991ApJ...379..631B), or López-Corredoira et al (2001) (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2001A%26A...373..139L).

A quick Google found this page (http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/milkyway.html), from where the links above are taken. I'm not sure where Freudenrich or Binney & Gerhard were published, but their work is referenced in Galactic Astronomy by Binney and Merrifield.

[crateris]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

Don't know about that , but there is a nebulous region a bit lower than the belt.

Ohhh, THAT'S why it's referred to as Orion's SWORD!!!!

:P

C.

[A Thousand Pardons]

Isn't there some armpit hair under the Orion arm of the Milky Way?

C.

Don't know about that , but there is a nebulous region a bit lower than the belt.

Ohhh, THAT'S why it's referred to as Orion's SWORD!!!!
I'm pretty sure that jfribrg was referring to the http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/constellations/orionsbelt.html]Horsehead (http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?[url) Nebula[/url], more or less on Orion's hip, rather than the famous Great Orion Nebula which is a lot lower down from the belt, rather than a bit.