MilkyWay
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The Milky Way galaxy is full of ripples (and larger than you think)
When you picture the Milky Way galaxy, you probably imagine a relatively flat disc. Well, you may have to get that image out of your head -- astrophysicists have determined that the galaxy has at least four "ripples," making it look more like a piece of corrugated cardboard than a gentle circle. Those three-dimensional shapes hint that the Milky Way is not only more complex than previously thought, but about 50 percent larger... and that's assuming there aren't hidden ripples extending the range even further. While there haven't been studies of the whole galaxy yet, the findings suggest that there's a lot left to discover about these gigantic star clusters.
NASA captures over half the galaxy's stars in new infrared panorama
Keeping a steady hand when snapping panoramic pictures is a valuable skill, but NASA's upstaged your photographic prowess with something a tad more impressive. Using over 2 million infrared pictures shot with the Spitzer Space Telescope over the course of a decade, the agency's created what's being called the clearest infrared panorama of our galaxy ever made. This is the first time all photographs from a project dubbed the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (or GLIMPSE360) have been combined into a single image. Although the final product only shows three percent of the sky, it contains over half of all stars in the Milky Way.
9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this just leaves us speechless. Pictured above is a compressed 108,500 x 81,500 pixel image of 84 million stars across central parts of the Milky Way. Taken by the VISTA survey telescope at the ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile, this 9-gigapixel photo is the result of thousands of individual images being meshed together. If it were printed out at the average resolution of a standard book it would measure a mind-boggling 9 x 7 meters. Using three separate infrared filters, VISTA is able to see through dust fields that normally obscure the view of an optical telescope. By studying this monumental image, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. If you'd like to take a look at this galactic work of art in its entirety, you can do so by visiting the source link below. (Image credit: ESO/VVV Consortium)
Hubble reveals unavoidable collision between our galaxy and Andromeda
The Hubble team over at NASA has confirmed what it's suspected for a while: that our galaxy is destined for a direct collision / love fest with Andromeda, culminating in the birth of "Milkomeda." But don't go lobbying Virgin Galactic for ring-side tickets just yet because the fireworks won't go off for another four billion years -- and last another two billion after that. Scientists also predict that the earth won't be threatened thanks to the sheer amount of empty space between stars, but we could lose the sun as its flung out to some other part of the new system. You hear that? We could lose the freakin' sun!!
European Space Agency creates one billion pixel camera, calls her GAIA
When we hear the name GAIA, our memory automatically zooms back to the Whoopi Goldberg-voiced Mother Earth from Captain Planet. This isn't that GAIA, but it does have to do with planets. Back at the turn of the millennium, the European Space Agency devised an ambitious mission to map one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy -- in 3D (insert Joey Lawrence 'whoa!'). To do this, it enlisted UK-based e2v Technologies and built an immense digital camera comprised of 106 snugly-fit charge coupled devices -- the largest ever for a space program. These credit card-shaped, human hair-thick slabs of silicon carbide act like tiny galactic eyes, each storing incoming light as a single pixel. Not sufficiently impressed? Then consider this: the stellar cam is so all-seeing, "it could measure the thumbnails of a person on the Moon" -- from Earth. Yeah. Set to launch on the Soyuz-Fregat sometime this year, the celestial surveyor will make its five-year home in the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, beaming its outerspace discoveries to radio dishes in Spain and Australia -- and occasionally peeping in your neighbor's window.
Ask TUAW: middle button paste, screen lock, previewing pictures, Mac 101 questions
Last week happened to be the start of our Mac 101 series and we had a lot of questions posted in the comments to the inaugural post. So this week in Ask TUAW, in addition to our normal questions, I've decided that to tackle some of those questions as well. I want to emphasize that new Mac users and Switchers should feel very welcome to post questions for Ask TUAW. We're happy to take questions from all levels. As always, please submit your questions by commenting to this post or using our tip form. This week we'll be addressing questions about pasting with the middle mouse button a la X11, previewing pictures in the Finder, locking the screen to preclude mischief, and much more. Let's get to it.
