If the farthest we've gone is Saturn, then how was NASA able to get this picture?

Question

http://www.wisconline.com/feature/milkyway.jpg

Answer 1

umm... someone probably made it, probably by computer

Answer 2

Great picture.

If this does represent the actual Milky Way then it was constructed through many years of painstaking observations from earth and satellites orbiting earth. There are many problems that have to be overcome to build such an image. First is you have to determine the distance to the stars we can see already through many different methods of observation and measurement, then map the clouds of dust that obscure some of the stars to map out the arms of the galaxy. You have to observe the galaxy at many different wave lengths - visual, radio, infrared, ultraviolet, xray, etc. Then begin constructing the map.

Only recently have we been able to penetrate the center of our galaxy where a supermassive black hole Cygnus X has been observed as well as its effect on other stars and gases at the center.

Though this could be an artist rendition, it seems to be based upon actual data - particularly near the Sun. But regardless many scientist over many years are responsible for this image - starting with Dr. Jan H. Oort - a Dutch astronomer - who setup the first comprehensive program for mapping the local neighborhood back in the 50's.

Again great find - thanks. Made my heart skip for a minute.

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Further research of the source of this image I have come across some additional information. The Milky Way Galaxy has been recently discovered to be a bar spiral SB type.[1] The rendering is an attempt to incorporate what has been learned about the our galaxy. The last reference gives a good overview of the features illustrated in this picture [2].

Answer 3

You can see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye. You have to be in a dark place, and you have to know exactly where to look.

From my home in the Southern Hemisphere we can see two galaxies on any clear night - the Large and Small Magellenic clouds.

I hope you are a small child, because otherwise it would make one wonder about the level of your knowledge. You don't have to go to these places to get pictures.

Also, probes Voyager and Pioneer have gone all the way beyond the Solar System, having photo'd the outer planets on their way. Where the heck did you get the information NASA had only got to Saturn. You must have made it up.

Answer 4

First of all, no humans have been to Saturn. NASA got pictures of Saturn and the Milky Way from the Hubbell Telescope Check out hubblesite.org/newscenter

Answer 5

It is not a true picture, but instead it is an artist's conception of what our Galaxy WOULD look like to an observer out there. We know that our Sun is fairly near to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy from various measurements. The entire Galaxy itself orbits around its center about every 200 million years! And - we can guess that we are near to the edge of our galaxy, and that is since we can see the major part of the galaxy on clear nights, especially in winter, and we call it The Milky Way! The galaxy contains hundreds of billions of starts, and - that is just in our own galaxy. There are also hundreds of billions of other whole galaxies out there, far beyond our own!!

Answer 6

That doesnt look like the milky way... its just an ordinary spiral galaxy. Not a barred spiral galaxy. And we have gone farther than saturn, the voyager probes are long past pluto

Answer 7

What I want to know is, who created those huge yellow letters? They have to be eight light years (LY) high or something. I think InDesign only allows a font size of 1,05699 * 10E-17 LY. That's nothing.

Answer 8

That is just some other galaxy they think resembles our own, and they point out where they think we are located in the galaxy. That picture was taken by the hubble telescope, which is a deep space telescope.

Answer 9

because that is just a computer image based on speculation and some bits of fact. It's not real, you brainless twit! You answered the question yourself...if we have only gone so far, there is no way to have a picture from further out!!

Answer 10

I hope, you are not serious.

That picture is of a galaxy that may be similar to our milky way. They use it to show us where we might be in our own solar system. It is not a picture of the milky way, rather just a pic of a galaxy that may look similar to ours.

Answer 11

SURE IT'S REAL YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE BASED ON A TRUE STORY MOVIE 2001 A SPACE ODDESY. SPELLED WRONG