[…] photos that accompany this post do very much recall aspects of projects like Sarajevo, San Francisco, Berlin. There is beauty in the light on these heaps of forms, the darkness between them, and the questions they raise. Also - […]

I’m making a belated addition to this entry to ask a question that you may be able to answer for the less astronomically enlightened among us. I know how you love a good question!

Looking at this photo raised some questions about such galaxies in my mind. Firstly, what are we actually seeing in galaxies like this? (Apart from the bleeding-obvious!) Are the whitish areas simply clouds of squillions of stars, too numerous and distant to distinguish individually and what are the brownish laces intertwined through them composed of? Also, we often see a dazzlingly bright area at the centre of such galaxies. Is this just millions of bright stars condensed in a (comparatively) small area? If there is such a hugely bright area at the centre of the Milky Way, how come we don’t see a huge, great, dazzling light anywhere in the night sky? Even though we’re out in the “burbs” of the MW, I would have thought that, judging by the pictures, this area would be big and bright enough to be a significant and obvious feature in the night sky.

Sorry if I’m being a bit plodding, but I did genuinely wonder! Thanks!

Russ Brown

The Fermi Paradox makes me not a betting man, although the potential for civilizations a billion years deader than ours is a distinct possibility.

And I see people here saying you can see it with the naked eye or binoculars, so that’s further proof it has to be closer than you say! You lie!!! Long live Ken Ham!!!

(And yes, this is total snarkiness - the true magic of the universe is lost on pinheads like Ken Ham and all the clueless twits writing for AiG. The universe’s beauty has no need for another myth to explain it.)