Dwarf Galaxies Discovered 42
d'alz writes "Two new satellite galaxies have been discovered in the Milky Way. These dim dwarf galaxies bring the total number of galaxies in the Milky Way's cosmic neighborhood to a total of 14. Of course, theorists believe there could be a hundred more.
The two dwarfs were found in the direction of the constellations Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs) and Bootes (the herdsman), scientists studying the Sloan Digital Sky Survey said in a statement. However, even though these galaxies are presumably quite close, they are difficult to spot, as they are very dim, which is a defining characteristic of dwarf galaxies."
PC (Score:4, Funny)
They prefer size impaired galaxies...
Re:PC (Score:2)
Re:PC (Score:3, Funny)
They don't want your help. Remember that NOBODY tosses a dwarf!
Re:PC (Score:3, Interesting)
She's been called:
Altitudenly-challenged
Vertically-challenged
Height-challenged
Diminutive
Little lady
Little mom (by kids)
etc.
and she's always quick to say, "I'm short/small! Get over it!"
I'm sure these galaxies feel the same way.
Re:PC (Score:1)
Dim dwarfs? (Score:2, Insightful)
Freaking bigots...
Re:Dim dwarfs? (Score:2, Funny)
I've heard this before (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I've heard this before (Score:2)
You need to start reading the first sentence in the Slashdot article summary.
Re:I've heard this before (Score:3, Funny)
Combined with the almost-a-million ID number, somehow "You must be new here" seems redundant. ;)
Re:I've heard this before (Score:2)
Post first, think later. That's the Slashdot way.
Who needs that pesky "Preview" button anyway?
Re:I've heard this before (Score:5, Interesting)
Through various techniques we're building up a more detailed understanding of the shape of our own galaxy - this is easy to do when looking at other galaxies, but quite hard to do for our own - imagine trying to get a detailed map of the human body from inside the stomach.
Since it's hard to tell how far away stars are, what they've been doing is gathering motion and spectrographic maps of them - figuring out which stars are obviously affecting each other, which stars are chemically similar and so on, and building 3d models from these.
It was just a year or two ago we figured out the Milky Way is in the middle digesting another smaller galaxy in the direction of Saggitarius.
Re:I've heard this before (Score:1)
I hope our galaxy, the Milky Way, doesn't get indigestion then.
Re:I've heard this before (Score:3, Funny)
Don't worry, Milky Way of Magnesia will fix that right up.
Re:I've heard this before (Score:1)
millions and possibly billions of years from now.
Basic question on naming... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this just another arbitrary thing, like the difference between a "planet" and an "asteroid"?
Re:Basic question on naming... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Basic question on naming... (Score:2, Informative)
Really, the only place you could contest whether something was a galaxy or not would be multiple star systems on the small side and whether or not two galaxies are actually separate on the large side. Really though, multiple star systems move together, so that's not really a question, and most of the stars in a galaxy tend to orbit in the same general direction and in the same plane. If a large grouping of stars moved t
Oy vey... (Score:5, Funny)
I know Gimli wasn't particularly clever but I think this is borderline offensive. Lousy dwarfist editors. You deserve a kick in the gloin.
*groan*
Re:Oy vey... (Score:2)
Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes (Score:1)
Nerd moment incoming
BTW, it's duergar, not dreugar. [/nerd]
Re:Cue the D&D/LOTR/Mini-me jokes (Score:2)
Color.... (Score:4, Funny)
And are any of them broadcasting us pictures of Hitler?
So that's why (Score:5, Funny)
Picture here (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Picture here (Score:1)
Re:Picture here (Score:2)
Re:Picture here (Score:2)
Re:dark matter (Score:3, Insightful)
Shock (Score:1)
Did them found Chappa'i Network there yet? (Score:1)
Begs the relativistic question... (Score:1)