Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes. One of the key galaxy types we see in the universe is the spiral galaxy, as demonstrated in an especially beautiful way by the subject of this Hubble Space Telescope image, NGC 2985. NGC 2985 lies over 70 million light-years from the solar system in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear).
The intricate, near-perfect symmetry on display here reveals the incredible complexity of NGC 2985. Multiple tightly wound spiral arms widen as they whirl outward from the galaxy's bright core, slowly fading and dissipating until these majestic structures disappear into the emptiness of intergalactic space, bringing a beautiful end to their starry splendor.
[...] The image (1.7MB) can be found here.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Saturday July 20 2019, @02:38AM (1 child)
No matter how you hard you may try, you cannot politicize the movements of the heavenly bodies over millions of years. Politics stop working once you hit geological scales of time.
In other words, by the time that galaxy dissipates, there could've been tens of thousand of civilizations born, living, and dying. Their politics impotent and boring to any being who's mind spans cosmic time.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday July 20 2019, @06:16AM
Kinda my point. Put this particular one on my observation list. Wasn't that the line from Firefly? You cannot take the sky from me. Close to Bode's Galaxy.