Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
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 Determining the Galaxy's Size 
Name: pieter de bruin
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1993 - 1999
Question:
How is the size of our galaxy determined? How is the motion and shape of our galaxy established?

Replies:
I believe the best observations are made with radio waves, because they can penetrate the gas and dust that obscures the visible light from all the stars in the galaxy. In particular, the galaxy has big clouds of hydrogen whose positions and speeds can be determined from the radio observations, and this gives a rough map of the galaxy. But your question is a good one: our galaxy is a lot harder to figure out than some of the others which are much further away, because from where we are we don't have a very good perspective view of it!

A Smith


Click here to return to the Astronomy Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory