saintgimp · HackerTrans

قبل 7 سنواتdiscuss

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

saintgimp

قبل 8 سنواتdiscuss

Although to be fair, dust is definitely a problem if you want to see into the center of the galaxy which is why most of the observations of Sagittarius A* are done in the infrared or near-infrared spectrum, which can penetrate dust. It's also why we can't see clear across our galaxy to make out what's beyond it, so we don't know what the Great Attractor is.

saintgimp

قبل 8 سنواتdiscuss

It really is that empty. Science fiction movies mess up our perception, but reality is way more mind-boggling that we realize.

Check this out: if you want to build a model galaxy to scale and you start with the Sun as a two-foot-diameter exercise ball, how far away do you have to travel before you can set down a smaller ball that represents Alpha Centauri, our nearest(-ish) stellar neighbor?

10,993.3 miles.

Just bask in that for a while.

(http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/)

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