----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for June 2, 1999
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What shape is the Milky Way galaxy?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For many years, scientists thought that our home galaxy, the Milky
Way, was a circular spiral galaxy like the nearby Andromeda Galaxy.
But recently it has become clear that the Milky Way is a "barred
spiral" galaxy.
Instead of having smooth spiral arms, our home galaxy has a nearly
straight bar of stars across the center, with spiral arms trailing
from the ends of the bar. The bar and the spiral bands are fuzzy
collections of gas, dust, and millions of stars. Our sun is located
at the edge of a spiral band, near one end of the bar.
The bar is not directly visible from Earth, because it is obscured by
vast clouds of dust. Astronomers discovered it by carefully mapping
the shape of the central bulge of stars in the Milky Way and by
observing the motions of stars.
How do barred spirals form? One theory is that the bar is a
consequence of intense magnetic fields near the center of the galaxy,
which could cause the gas, dust, and stars to orbit differently.
More about the Milky Way and its shape:
http://www.kalmbach.com/astro/Magazine/AstIndex/1999/99Mar/MarBar.html
http://www.herts.ac.uk/astro_ub/a23_ub.html
More Cool Facts about galaxies:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/01/12.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/04/16.html
Today's sponsor: K-12 Learning Network http://homeschoolnetwork.com
NEW LOW PRICE -- Take your home school to next level of excellence!
K-12 classes for the serious Home Educator - Proven Curriculum -
Taught to reinforce Christian values to your children - High School,
Jr High, Elementary, K-5 in full-motion digital video. Helping you
with the harder subjects - For the serious Home Educator.
Free info: E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 1-888-406-4040
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cool Fact of the Day list membership: 120,473
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/join/
To unsubscribe, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/change/
To become a sponsor, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/sponsor/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 1999, The Learning Kingdom, Inc.
http://www.LearningKingdom.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
