The Milky Way is Not a Spiral?

ETEQ writes "Space.com reports that new data from the Spitzer Space Telescope showing that the Milky Way is in fact a barred spiral! Looks like all our old astronomy textbooks will have to be thrown away..."

Throw 'em Away

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like all our old astronomy textbooks will have to be thrown away...

Yes, this change is truly astronomical.

Chucking Books...

[ackthpt]

Looks like all our old astronomy textbooks will have to be thrown away..."

Just be careful of the words "throw away", "give away" and "books" in Henico County, VA

"Mine, mine! Geroff! Mine!"

I always thought it was...

[VolciMaster]

a swirl of caramel and chocolate?

45 Degree line?

[Intron]

"the bar is oriented at about a 45-degree angle relative to the main plane of the galaxy"

I'm pretty sure that this means "Do not enter" according to international standards.

Flat Earth.

[dividedsky319]

Right, and the next thing you'll tell me is that the Earth isn't flat! And that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth. Blasphemers!

The Milky Way

[ChristyB]

Is actually a candy bar. Here [overheardintheuk.com] is proof that the candy bar came before the galaxy. A company called Mars, Inc. makes them.

So much for my RPG galaxy maps...

[The I Shing]

Well, dammit, I guess I'm going to have to rethink my entire Star Hero Terran Empires [herogames.com] roleplaying campaign.

Re:45 Degree line?

[dal20402]

the bar is oriented at about a 45-degree angle Just how many drinks did the researchers have?

Nah, keep 'em

[TildeMan]

My high school chemistry textbook said that the atmosphere was 80% nitrogen and 23% oxygen, and that didn't need to be thrown away. So we'll just blame this shape-of-the-galaxy thing on sig figs.

Isn't it obvious?

[convex_mirror]

I always knew that the milky way was a bar, and that it is filled with nougat.

Ahahahehehehohoh, whooo, that's funny!

[Anonymous Coward]

You couldn't have failed it worse! Last post, more like. Why do morons like you even try?

Aaaw crap...

[lobsterGun]

...looks like I'm going to have to get new business cards.

No way

[gowen]

The fact the milky way is a normal spiral is a fundamental tenet of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and this new evidenc is just a theory. I demand that people continue to teach my older (wrong) alternative theory.

Obligatory Homer Quote

[LocutusMIT]

... the Milky Way is in fact a barred spiral!

Mmmmmm... Milky Way Bar...

Re:45 Degree line?

[Kierthos]

Assume one beer or one shot of liquor per 3 degrees of tilt. The rest of the math is left as an exercise for the reader.

Kierthos

This neighborhood is going to hell

[liquid stereo]

I'm moving. Where's Dubya and his infinite improbability drive!!!

Patch for the books

[drgonzo59]

They'll just issue a patch for every book. They'll just give everyone a sticker and tell them wich page and paragraphs to stick it on. ;)

Still a spirl...

[CrazyTalk]

Don't you guys know anything about object oriented programming? A barred spiral inherits from spiral:

e.g.

public class CBarredSpiral : CSpiral

It is not proof.

[www.sorehands.com]

As the article said, "May." We need to send someone outside the galaxy, so they can look and make a positive determination.

rest

[Shotgun]

Well, I'm certainly glad they cleared that one up. I can't tell you the sleepless nights I've spent wondering if I existed in a spiral vs a barred spiral galaxy. With answers to such fundamental questions like these pouring forth, I'm sure our friends in Washington will continue to confiscate my property to fund their efforts.

That explains a lot!

[ClippyHater]

Everyone's said my directions suck. I kept telling them, "It's a huge spiral, you can't miss it!", and they keep calling me a useless monkey-boy who couldn't navigate my way into a black hole.

How Come...

[eno2001]

...there are no pictures of the Milky Way from space? Whenever I've Googled for pictures of the Milky Way, I either get artist renderings or these stupid pictures of a strip of the night sky. Since we've supposedly went into space a lot of time, we should have good photos of the Milky Way from space. Even moreso since the Voyager spacecraft left the universe a year or so ago. When the voyager left our universe, it should have had a great shot of the entire galaxy and all it's planets. I mean, the universe is what... like ten million miles wide or something, right?

Re:Not Exactly

[frodo from middle ea]

you don't seem to know the terms "media spin", or "jumping to conclusions", or "may increase the risk by upto 50%" etc.

Re:45 Degree line?

[Glog]

I'm pretty sure that this means "Do not enter" according to international standards.

That'd be intergalactic standards, sir.

Re:45 Degree line?

[tallniel]

I'm pretty sure that this means "Do not enter" according to international standards.

Yup, we're all barred...

Re:Science is not wright all the time. Blasaphmy!!

[Bimo_Dude]

I don't mind going along with the notion that God (who I believe was the creator) could have used many things that scientists hold true and call "evolution" and the "Big Bang" to get us to where we are today.

The joys of reading too fast. I thought you said, "I don't mind going along with the notion that God (who I believe was the creator) could have used many things that scientists hold true and call "evolution" and the "Big Bong" to get us to where we are today."

Now THAT, I could believe ;)

I've known this for years

[wcrowe]

I always knew it was a bar [milkywaybar.com].

Re:Not Exactly

[Rei]

Cogito Eggo Sum, I think therefore I am a waffle

No, if I'm not mistaken, it would be "I think I am a waffle." "Ergo", the word you replaced, is what means "therefore".

Of course, "Eggo" doesn't sound like a nominative noun to a Latin speaker - it could be something like "Eggus" or whatnot, for which "Eggo" would be the ablative and dative singular. If that were the case, and "Eggus" meant "waffle", I believe it could be translated as "I think I am for the waffle", "I think I am to the waffle", "I think I am by means of the waffle", or several other things (I never really fully got the ablative).

Douglas Adams?

[obiquity]

Douglas Adams would be rolling on the floor upon hearing that there was a bar at the center of the galaxy...

Re:I always thought it was...

[TheMadcapZ]

Now it is a barred swirl of caramel and chocolate

Re:Not Exactly

[WormholeFiend]

Romanes eunt domus!

Re:Throw 'em Away

[mhaze]

I like the new look of our galaxy!!! But what's this about astronomy "textbooks"? What is a...textbook? I know about ebooks, pdfs, and chm presentation of textual data, and of course the old standby, html...

Re:Not Exactly

[CrazedWalrus]

This isn't exactly news, either.

I knew Slashdot was always a little behind the news, but isn't 100 billion years a little ridiculous?! Come on, editors! Keep up! ;-)

Text books!

[guice]

1000 old, used, astronomy text books for $50! This weekend only!

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[zarr]

Now science can turn to figuring out what nougat is.

Brown matter?

Re:Not Exactly

[Stuart Gibson]

By "Meaning of Life" we should all read "Life of Brian", right?

Stuart

There is a bar in our galaxy?

[Ken Broadfoot]

Another bar... so much for the neighborhood.

--ken

Re:Not Exactly

[Thuktun]

Cogito Eggo Sum, I think therefore I am a waffle

No, if I'm not mistaken, it would be "I think I am a waffle." "Ergo", the word you replaced, is what means "therefore".

You forgot "sum". "I think waffles exist"?

The bar at the center of the galaxy implies...

[pdmoderator]

...the existence of a restaurant at the end of the universe.

Re:Chucking Books...

[Lars T.]

I have an old astronomy book from the late 1920s that doesn't mention a ninth planet named Pluto. Hey, the way things are going, it will be right again in a couple of years ;-)