Our Earth is not at rest. The Earth moves around the Sun. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Local Group falls toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. But these speeds are less than the speed that all of these objects together move relative to the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). The map indicates that the Local Group moves at about 600 kilometers per second relative to this primordial radiation. This high speed was initially unexpected and its magnitude is still unexplained. Why are we moving so fast? What is out there?
Local Group is the group of galaxies that includes our galaxy, the Milky Way. The group comprises over 35 galaxies, with its gravitational center located somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxies of the Local Group cover a 10 million light-year diameter.
Whew thats some party. eh ?
Friday 11 April 2008
Whew: Our Local Group of Galaxies is moving @ 600 kms/second
Labels:
Astronomy,
Epistemological,
Outer Space,
Science,
Technology
blog comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)