Comments on: The Milky Way shrinks https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/ Wed, 30 Jul 2014 16:47:36 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Competential https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/#comment-197321 Wed, 30 Jul 2014 16:47:36 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29861#comment-197321 In reply to Blair Ivey.

125,000,000 years from now the Sun will have made half an orbit around the Milky Way. By then we will have the best possible parallax measurement of the distance to Andromeda. Just hang on.

]]> By: joe https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/#comment-197156 Wed, 30 Jul 2014 15:07:42 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29861#comment-197156 In reply to Cotour.

Yes, of course it is.

]]> By: Cotour https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/#comment-197065 Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:07:00 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29861#comment-197065 Would this be as a result of “Global Warming” / “Climate Chaos” on the earth?

]]> By: DK Williams https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/#comment-196507 Wed, 30 Jul 2014 06:19:33 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29861#comment-196507 I recall my sixth grade teacher talking about distances to stars and galaxies. I did some reading on the subject and realized the measurement methods made assumptions that could be way off. Techniques are far more sophisticated today, but still rest on a set of assumptions. Add to this “margin of measurement error” and it is not surprisingly that such estimates change greatly over time.

]]> By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-milky-way-shrinks/#comment-196506 Wed, 30 Jul 2014 06:19:13 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29861#comment-196506 “All we really know at this point is that the Milky Way and Andromeda are approximately comparable.”

As the two galaxies are on a collision course, in a few million years we’ll know for sure.

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