Document Type
Opinion
Publication Date
11-2019
Department 1
Physics
Abstract
From our limited perspective—living on a planet that orbits one of several hundred billion stars inside the Milky Way—the detailed structure of our home galaxy is difficult to determine. It has long been recognized by astronomers as a typical spiral galaxy, one of countless flattened pinwheels of stars seen throughout the universe. By mapping the distances to more than 2,400 stars, scientists have now created, with unprecedented precision, a three-dimensional map that shows the Milky Way has a twisted shape. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Version
Version of Record
Recommended Citation
Marschall, Laurence. "Milky Way Morphology." Natural History, (November 2019): p. 6.
Required Publisher's Statement
This article was originally made available on the publisher's website.