Orientation of Solar System

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by modest

bloody brilliant

+1

[belovelife]

http://hypography.com/forums/astrono...gas-cloud.html
post 12
post 20
post 24

and post 9 from this thread

this would give a reason for the "arms" swirling in a galaxy
say you look at a galaxy with 4"arms"
this could be 4 eruptions of matter into orbit around the black hole

that is to say the black hole of that galaxy originally had
"hotspots" at those points, where the initial impetali process occured
then when it reached the surface of the black hole,
the impetali ->matter as we know if

on this i ask what is the count of these "arms"
in the galaxies we have observed
it may give us clues to the different reactions of this process
say all galaxies have 4 arms, then it would point to something
say it varyies
then each transfomation of that galaxies black hole may have
clues to the type of matter that is produces
"relation based on the crystal movment within the black hole
to x number arms produces on average
y amount heavy metals
z amount of lighter elements
to
a amount of electrons
b amount radiation
c amount of light

just a thought

[modest]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Land ho! By jove, I think I've got it!

The Milky Way Galaxy

and

Curious About Astronomy: How often does the Sun pass through a spiral arm in the Milky Way?

I had a link saying about that half the galaxies rotate one way and half the other, but I lost it in the shuffle. Damn Three-card-Monte!! Anyway, I think I'm off that fence-post finally. .....................

Oh-no, I think I'm on the fence now. Does this mean we're north of the plane according to the galactic coordinate system north or the physical (rotation) north? I think I feel that hemorrhage coming again

~modest

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Bee Loaf Left

...
this would give a reason for the "arms" swirling in a galaxy
say you look at a galaxy with 4"arms"
this could be 4 eruptions of matter into orbit around the black hole
...
just a thought

that thought is on-topic over here: >> Do a spiral galaxy and a hurricane share a similar formation mechanism?

Originally Posted by Modestino

So, indeed, the galactic coordinate system is backwards (left handed as it were). Also, check out this software which is bloody brilliant:

Where is M13? - Home

You can look at Polaris (the north star) for example and see exactly where it is in the galaxy which gives a very good sense of things.

~modest

Looks cool! I don't own this machine however, and not allowed to download software. Any chance you could grab a screenshot of that Polaris view & post it? For that matter, any view you think would clarify the questions of our Solar Systems orientations? Dank.

[modest]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Looks cool! I don't own this machine however, and not allowed to download software. Any chance you could grab a screenshot of that Polaris view & post it? For that matter, any view you think would clarify the questions of our Solar Systems orientations? Dank.

Absolutely.

Polaris (the north star) doesn't show up well in a screen shot because it's pretty close to the sun (relatively speaking). You have to zoom in pretty far to look at it which looses (in a single frame) the galactic perspective. But, right next to Polaris (in the sky) is Pal 1—a globular cluster which does much better in a screen cap because it's relatively far away.

In this image the sun is directly left of the galactic center. It is the orange dot. The galaxy is rotating clockwise in the top image and the near part of the galaxy in the bottom image is moving to the left.



So, our (earthly) north pole is pointed roughly at Pal 1 in these images. Our south pole would be pointed in exactly the opposite direction. Our north pole is then pointed above the galactic plane (approximatly 26.5 degrees above it according to the slightly inaccurate reasoning that Polaris has a galactic latitude of 26.5).

Our north pole is also pointed to the outside of the galaxy (as viewed from above or below the galaxy). The galactic longitude of Polaris is 123.2 degrees, so our north pole is about 57 degrees from being pointed directly away from the galactic center.

I can also definitely say (because the software gives this info) that these images are oriented according to the galactic coordinate system. In other words: galactic north is pointed up in the bottom pic as defined by the GCS while the rotational (or physical) galactic north pole would be pointed down.

It also looks as if (and zooming in more makes it even more apparent) that the sun is slightly above the galactic ecliptic. This would mean we are above the galactic plane according to the GCS and not the other way around.

~modest

[Jay-qu]

Sorry I missed this conversation I could have saved you all some trouble - but you had fun searching for the answer didnt you

Well if anyone wants to play with the solar system/galaxy (and local group) I highly recommend downloading celestia for some real time space ship simulator fun

I have spent days on this program, flying around, searching, playing.. It might take you a while to get used to the controls so give it a good while and then you wont be able to put it down.

[modest]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

Well if anyone wants to play with the solar system/galaxy (and local group) I highly recommend downloading celestia for some real time space ship simulator fun

You the man Jay-qu

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while... I thought Google earth's sky view was awesome. It's got nothing on celestia! Now I'm gonna be playing with this all night

~modest