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NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Why not a spherical Milky Way? 
Name: tamar c
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1993 - 1999
Question:
Why does the Milky Way spiral on a single plane? Why doesn't it look more like a sphere?

Replies:
Good question! There are spherical (more accurately called elliptical because they look more like a football than a basketball) galaxies as well as spiral galaxies as well as irregular galaxies. Galaxy formation is not a well understood process, but spirals probably result when the angular momentum of the galactic proto-cloud exceeds some threshold. I don't know of any theories explaining barred spirals which is what we now think is what the Milky Way is.

John Hawley


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