I think this is a Dennis question, since Dennis once helped me find out if the sky from Mars was a whiter shade of pale. I think he said it was a lighter shade of blue.
A two-pronger:
[A] Why is it that we never see the center of the galaxy? The theoretical pictures from outside our galaxy make the nucleus look blindingly bright, and we are a lot closer to the center than the point of view of these depictions, which are in turn probably--fancifully?--based on our views of other visible galactic whirls and clusters. The Milky Way is as dense or as bright as it gets? Why don't we have better pictures of the center of our galaxy? Is it too close!?
[B] Has anyone tried to picture what a sky, night or day, might look like from a vantage point in the very center of our galaxy?
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Interesting questions. I didn't know you had an interest in the heavens other than a spiritual one....lol
ReplyDeleteIt is generally believed that the center of the Milky way galaxy is a huge black hole 4 million times the mass of our sun. Orbiting around the black hole are very large young stars. So if you were able to visit the center of the universe and weren't drawn into the black hole I would guess that the heavens would be very sunny and bright. I don't know of anyone who has made a star map of the heavens from there but with new studies from satellite telescopes I can imagine it would be possible with the help of some super computers. I believe Earth is about 27,000 light years away from the center of our galaxy.
While it has been assumed that the galaxy is a spiral a new theory from a group of Brazilian astronomers believe the galaxy is more like a square pinwheel. If you do a search on google for the terms "where is the center of the Milky way galaxy" you will find may fine photos.
By the way astronomers have named the black hole at the center of our galaxy and have called it Sagittarius A*.
Ah, ah, oy oy muy bien gracias "grace" and thanks to you, Master 'o the Internet!!!
ReplyDeleteI s'pose then there's no point in asking what the sky look like from the verge of a black hole! "It sucks" would probably be the most appropriate description...
And, oh yes, I am very very interested in all things physical as well as spiritual. To be otherwise would be Manichean or Platonic--I love poetry too and I believe that Plato had no use for poets, only philosophers and kings, preferably both/and (?) My point of view could roughly be called, "incarnational"
There's the rub, I am insatiable, I am a compulsive over-reader as well as overeater and over-weeder. I don't just refuse to be bored, I am naturally interested in almost everything, largely because I see people as far deeper and more interesting and more complicated than they realize. This is why I am a very inefficient medical scientist; I have legions of interests and very few solid assumptions about the significance of men and women, except for the most basic, which is that there is a God and God creates ex nihilo. That is not, actually or primarily a religious question because as I have said, everyone is religious and has idols and pantheons which we do, de facto, worship; even or especially the so-called "Freedom from Religion" aficianados.
Having said that, is it ok if I unleash some vintage poetry on you (all 5 of you)? And for the 10/31 time, some "Jim Morrison's Grave"???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
(Look that song up in your funk and googles)
ReplyDeleteAddendumb: When I say I find individuals and people in general to be unfathomable, I mean all of nature too. And as Mr. Paul said, we are "stewards of Mystery" He also averred that he could not even judge himself; Walker P went further and said that all self-knowledge-not merely judgement-- is tainted and unreliable. So we all need fathomless others, like you, to advance in any way, even though my knowledge of most people is even more deficient than my knowledge of self. All the better--In Joy yourself!!! (Do it today!!! Don't delay!!!)