This undated hand out artist rendering provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics shows the latest view of the Milky Way's structure.
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ShareScientists say Milky Way galaxy is not snack-sized as once thought
By The Associated Press
Published: January 06, 2009 7:46 PM
WASHINGTON — Take that, Andromeda!
For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth’s cosmic neighbourhood, our Milky Way was a weak little sister to the larger Andromeda.
But scientists now say the Milky Way is considerably larger, bulkier and spinning faster than astronomers once thought and is Andromeda’s equal.
That’s not necessarily good news because being bigger means the gravity between the Milky Way and neighbouring Andromeda is stronger.
That means our galaxy could be crashing violently into Andromeda a lot sooner than predicted.
But study author Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts says there’s no need for panic — that won’t happen for at least two- or three-billion years.
