We know pretty much what the Milky Way galaxy looks like, from radio spectroscopy measurements. These give the radial velocity of gas clouds at different positions. We can therefore tell that the Milky Way is an SBc galaxy with a luminosity of around 10 billion times the Sun. The pictures shown are usually artist's composites of similar galaxies, perhaps with the additional detail (if they're being conscientious) of the positions of the various known spiral arms, orientation of the bar, etc.
2007-07-17 02:17:56
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answer #1
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answered by cosmo 7
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We are in the disk of the Milky Way, so what we can see of it is a ribbon of stars, gas, and dust stretching all around the sky. Because of this, the Hubble (or any other telescope) can only photograph a very small portion of the Milky Way at a time. Photographs of the Milky Way, showing the broad band of stars, are time exposures taken with wide-angle cameras and pieced together from multiple pictures. The galaxy is a naked-eye object under reasonably dark skies. The central portion of it, around Sagittarius, is the brightest, but we can also see the outer portion of the disk in the opposite direction, toward Orion. Astronomers have been able to piece together an idea of what our galaxy would look like from a distance by measuring the distances to the stars in different parts of it and creating a 3-dimensional map. There's some uncertainty as to what the far side of it looks like, as we have trouble seeing through the dust clouds around the center. Any pictures you see of the Milky Way galaxy as a spiral are artist's creations based on this map, not photographs. We can see other galaxies because even though they are very far away, they shine with the light of hundreds of billions of stars. Even an amateur telescope can show you quite a lot of galaxies, and one, M31 in Andromeda, is visible to the naked eye.
2016-05-20 00:36:23
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answer #2
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answered by yvette 3
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You are correct - it is not possible to take pictures of the milky way with the sun included.
Any representation of the milky way that shows a full spiral is an 'artists impression'
These pictures can be quite accurate though. The general structure of the galaxy is well know and the properties of the nearby spiral arms can be mostly observed directly.
The bits that cannot be seen directly can be modelled quite well by observing the Andromeda galaxy - our nearest neighbour has a very similar structure to our own galaxy.
2007-07-17 01:49:05
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Yes- we could not get a device the many thousands of light-years away to record such an image and then wait for the return transmission, even if it were launched at the very start of the space age- it would take many millions of lifetimes. They are artist's impressions, or sometimes other, similar galaxies.
But by measuring the relative distances from the Earth of the star clusters etc in our own galaxy, we can render diagrams of our galaxy.
2007-07-17 02:26:50
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answer #4
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answered by Bullet Magnet 4
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We can make maps of those parts of our galaxy that we can see using radio, infrared, visible, and other sources of radiation. This allows us to show what the galaxy would look like if we were able to get outside of it. Anything past this is just an artists conception, although often informed by the real maps.
There is an older book 'The Guide to the Galaxy' that goes into the history of our understanding of our galaxy as well as giving maps representing that understanding.
2007-07-17 03:14:29
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answer #5
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answered by mathematician 7
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You can just SEE the Milky Way with your eyes if you go outside on a dark night far from city lights. It looks like a dimly glowing band of clouds stretching all the way across the sky. But you can't see it from the city because all the lights make the night sky glow brighter than the Milky Way.
2007-07-17 02:30:47
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answer #6
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answered by campbelp2002 7
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We can't. You've answered it yourself. All the images you see of the milky way are only impressions. Although maybe someone here can give a more detailed technical answer.
2007-07-17 01:47:54
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answer #7
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answered by Hibernius 2
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They are either artist impressions or photos of another galaxy; you seen one you seen um all. Below though is an excerpt from an article (the first paragraph of it). It appears about 3/4 of the way threw the link posted below. I always like to throw this in when talking about light and photos in space. If it is indeed fact, it is a really important one from a physics standpoint. Anyone who is into physics that can offer anything on this subject in any way, please drop me an email.
"Vanguard note...
Another incredible chunk of information....There are some bizarre things going on with the Sun and the properties of light in space. John Keely says that the Sun and stars are invisible when viewed from space. Light only manifests when in the presence of a gas which serves as a percussive medium for the Aether to allow the generation of light through interference; thereby slowing the Aether to lower frequencies."
2007-07-17 02:03:08
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answer #8
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answered by mike453683 5
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Either it's done with smoke & mirrors or else by a guy throwing paint at a canvas--he can do 100 of these a day which he sells to science museums who need nice attractions to bring people in...oh, there's one more answer--it's really done by aliens from another world. And that's what we call "scientific induction," having ruled out the idiotic we turn to the less obvious!
2007-07-17 02:12:32
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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Chocolate one I could help you with but the galaxy I'm afraid not.
2007-07-17 01:52:42
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answer #10
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answered by jayemess 4
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