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Article: A "new look" for our Milky Way Galaxy

Based on data from Spitzer. Wow, if that IS what our Milky Way Galaxy looks like...! Majestic, exquisite...incredible.

They're fairly certain our Galaxy contains a central bar which is 27,000 l/y long (7,000 l/y longer than previously believed). The bar seems primarily populated by "old and red stars" (red giants).

It also shows that the bar is oriented at about a 45-degree angle relative to a line joining the sun and the center of the galaxy.

Article discusses the methods/processes involved in building up such a "portrait."

With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the most comprehensive structural analysis of our galaxy and have found tantalizing new evidence that the Milky Way is much different from your ordinary spiral galaxy.

Yep, I'm biased...but honestly, if that IS what our MWG looks like I must say it's the most beautiful yet "seen." All those incredibly long swirling arms around that huge central bar.

[ljk4-1]

STELLAR CHEMISTRY

- Building A Better Guide To The Galaxy

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Building...The_Galaxy.html

Charlottesville VA (SPX) Feb 23, 2006 - It is the job of astronomers to put
numbers on the stupefying vastness of space and the objects it holds. That's how
they get the universe to spill its secrets. The University of Virginia's Steve
Majewski and his team plan to use NASA's SIM PlanetQuest space telescope to make
ultra-precise measurements that will reveal more about the nature of our galaxy
than ever before.

- ESO's VLT Launches Laser Guide Star

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ESOs_VLT...Guide_Star.html

- Swift Might Have Detected A Supernova Just Beginning

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Swift_Mi..._Beginning.html