![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusI've been doing the Galaxy Zoo thing
for a little while now. Usually just going through three or four or
so galaxies a day. (I have it in my daily bookmarks folder in Firefox,
along with my webcomics and the BBC.).
Today was this one:
Now, what's cool, is there is absolutely nothing special about this galaxy.
If you're not familiar with Galaxy Zoo, it's a collection of images of
galaxies taken by the The Sloan Digital Sky Survey. About 250,000
galaxies are represented. People go through and catalog them, making
note of such features as whether it's seen edgewise, if it has spiral
arms, if there are bars across it, and various other common features.
So, this galaxy here. Somewhere, now, there's an entry, "Spiral
galaxy. Three arms. Visible core. Plus Other." The "Other" in this
case, is the organge-ish spot next to it. What is that? Another
galaxy that's colliding with it? An extension of one of the spiral
arms? A star from our own galaxy that simply got in the frame? A
smudge on the telescope lens? An alien spacecraft? I have no idea.
In all likelihood, nobody has any idea.
And what are all the red and yellow and blue splotches in the picture?
I don't know what those are either, though I suspect they're
artifacts of the extreme magnification we're looking at this under.
Which would indicate that this galaxy is one of the further away. I
have no idea what galaxy this is, or where it is. Quite possibly a
few billion light-years away. As far as I know, I'm the only one to
have ever given it more than a glance. If anyone has even given it
that much.
But, it's an Entire. Freaking. Galaxy. Millions and millions,
if not billions, of stars. Some are old, burned out. Some are new, or
being born even now, possibly in huge nebulae lighting up the night
sky of an ancient planet, creating what would be a stunning vista
inspiring religions and crusades except that no life has ever evolved
there to see it.
Maybe there's life. Maybe it's sentient. There could be entire
civilizations arising, living, falling, dying out. Forming empires
that span across thousands of star systems. Maybe completely unaware
of each other, separated by time and distance across the galaxy.
Maybe this entire galaxy is gone by now, and in another billion years
the light of its final days will reach the Earth, long unpopulated and
forgotten.
Maybe there's no life at all. And for billions of years, nebulae
expand, stars are born, planets are formed, volcanoes erupt, tectonic
plates shift under vast empty oceans and somewhere a supernovae bathes
an alien landscape in gamma rays. Harmless as there's nothing there to
harm.
And on other planets? Ice miles thick. Entire worlds covered in
oceans. Trees to put Kashyyyk to shame. Maybe there's a Ring World
or a system of Dyson Spheres.
But we don't know, of course. And chances are, we'll never know.
Space is just too big to ever get to all of it. There are 250,000
galaxies in the survey's initial list. And this one just isn't as
interesting as others. You can barely see the spiral arms. There's no
spectacular view - no collision, no dust trail, no merger going on.
It isn't important. There are so many more interesting places to
look. And that's part of what makes this one so amazing - is the
thought that, as amazing as it may be, there's so much out there
that's so much more amazing, that we'll probably never get
around to learning anything more about it.
An Entire. Freaking. Galaxy: "Spiral galaxy. Three arms. Visible core.
Plus Other."
I guess it's better than "Mostly harmless".
for a little while now. Usually just going through three or four or
so galaxies a day. (I have it in my daily bookmarks folder in Firefox,
along with my webcomics and the BBC.).
Today was this one:
Now, what's cool, is there is absolutely nothing special about this galaxy.
If you're not familiar with Galaxy Zoo, it's a collection of images of
galaxies taken by the The Sloan Digital Sky Survey. About 250,000
galaxies are represented. People go through and catalog them, making
note of such features as whether it's seen edgewise, if it has spiral
arms, if there are bars across it, and various other common features.
So, this galaxy here. Somewhere, now, there's an entry, "Spiral
galaxy. Three arms. Visible core. Plus Other." The "Other" in this
case, is the organge-ish spot next to it. What is that? Another
galaxy that's colliding with it? An extension of one of the spiral
arms? A star from our own galaxy that simply got in the frame? A
smudge on the telescope lens? An alien spacecraft? I have no idea.
In all likelihood, nobody has any idea.
And what are all the red and yellow and blue splotches in the picture?
I don't know what those are either, though I suspect they're
artifacts of the extreme magnification we're looking at this under.
Which would indicate that this galaxy is one of the further away. I
have no idea what galaxy this is, or where it is. Quite possibly a
few billion light-years away. As far as I know, I'm the only one to
have ever given it more than a glance. If anyone has even given it
that much.
But, it's an Entire. Freaking. Galaxy. Millions and millions,
if not billions, of stars. Some are old, burned out. Some are new, or
being born even now, possibly in huge nebulae lighting up the night
sky of an ancient planet, creating what would be a stunning vista
inspiring religions and crusades except that no life has ever evolved
there to see it.
Maybe there's life. Maybe it's sentient. There could be entire
civilizations arising, living, falling, dying out. Forming empires
that span across thousands of star systems. Maybe completely unaware
of each other, separated by time and distance across the galaxy.
Maybe this entire galaxy is gone by now, and in another billion years
the light of its final days will reach the Earth, long unpopulated and
forgotten.
Maybe there's no life at all. And for billions of years, nebulae
expand, stars are born, planets are formed, volcanoes erupt, tectonic
plates shift under vast empty oceans and somewhere a supernovae bathes
an alien landscape in gamma rays. Harmless as there's nothing there to
harm.
And on other planets? Ice miles thick. Entire worlds covered in
oceans. Trees to put Kashyyyk to shame. Maybe there's a Ring World
or a system of Dyson Spheres.
But we don't know, of course. And chances are, we'll never know.
Space is just too big to ever get to all of it. There are 250,000
galaxies in the survey's initial list. And this one just isn't as
interesting as others. You can barely see the spiral arms. There's no
spectacular view - no collision, no dust trail, no merger going on.
It isn't important. There are so many more interesting places to
look. And that's part of what makes this one so amazing - is the
thought that, as amazing as it may be, there's so much out there
that's so much more amazing, that we'll probably never get
around to learning anything more about it.
An Entire. Freaking. Galaxy: "Spiral galaxy. Three arms. Visible core.
Plus Other."
I guess it's better than "Mostly harmless".
