Help! (astronomers)

[DannyLove]

alright. I'm trying to piece together some things here. It may sound basic to you, but I just need some clarification.

I know we are from the Milky Way Galaxy which houses our small solar system along with 200 billion other stars and their planets. There is no actual picture of our own galaxy (i've looked and I couldn't really find), but I have found other pictures of near by galaxies, such as the M31 galaxy which isn't the nearest galaxy, but its the nearest largest neighbor.

alright, now to my question. where do constellation come in? My initial thought is that our constellation makes up the Milky Way (please correct me if I'm wrong, ?? ) and that our particular solar system is from the the Sagittarius region. (btw I am a sagittarius! )

here is my other question. If you notice in the Sagittarius picture there are lots of numbers, like M54 and so on, which I believe represent objects in our galaxy (ie; star clusters, nebulas, etc). another question. Are we from the Sagittarius region? and what is our solar system #, so that I can find it on the pic.

i'm so clueless when it comes to this, even though I'm fascinated about all this, I still am a bit confused. I'm still reading, so please, if you know, answer me please

thank you!

danny~!

 

[ImTyping]

<< alright. I'm trying to piece together some things here. It may sound basic to you, but I just need some clarification.

I know we are from the Milky Way Galaxy which houses our small solar system along with 200 billion other stars and their planets. >>



No, we are not FROM the Milky Way, that would imply that we are currently somewhere else. Our solar system resides IN the MWG.



<< There is no actual picture of our own galaxy (i've looked and I couldn't really find), but I have found other pictures of near by galaxies, such as the M31 galaxy which isn't the nearest galaxy, but its the nearest largest neighbor. >>


The Andromeda Galaxy is niether. But it DOES look a lot like ours.



<< alright, now to my question. where do constellation come in? My initial thought is that our constellation makes up the Milky Way (please correct me if I'm wrong, ?? ) and that our particular solar system is from the the Sagittarius region. (btw I am a sagittarius! ) >>

Constellations are nothing more than stars grouped together in the heads of early astrologers. American culture has it's set of constellations, other societies have completely different constellations. Also, the constellations seen from the southern hemisphere are completely different than those seen here. The constellations, therefor, really do not "come in." They are just arbitrary imagianary drawings made using certain stars.




<< here is my other question. If you notice in the Sagittarius picture there are lots of numbers, like M54 and so on, which I believe represent objects in our galaxy (ie; star clusters, nebulas, etc). another question. Are we from the Sagittarius region? and what is our solar system #, so that I can find it on the pic. >>

You will never find a picture of a region of space that includes our solar system, taken from the outside. Why? Because we have not been far enough outside of our Solar system to take a meaningful picture yet!



<< i'm so clueless when it comes to this, even though I'm fascinated about all this, I still am a bit confused. I'm still reading, so please, if you know, answer me please

thank you!

danny~!
>>



I am sure you will get lots of links for pertinent topics. Do a google search and get some for yourself.

 

[illusion88]

<< There is no actual picture of our own galaxy >>



This is due to the fact that in order to photograph our galaxy, you have to go outside of it.... You could get a photo with thermal imaging but it wouldnt be like the other pictures that you see.

I don't quite follow your first question.



<< My initial thought is that our constellation makes up the Milky Way >>


I would have to disagree. From that statement i would think that you are thinking taht a galaxy is more like a gobular/open cluster. A galaxy is tightly packed stars and thus its unlikly that its a constellation.



<< here is my other question. If you notice in the Sagittarius picture there are lots of numbers, like M54 and so on, which I believe represent objects in our galaxy (ie; star clusters, nebulas, etc). another question. Are we from the Sagittarius region? and what is our solar system #, so that I can find it on the pic. >>



We are not in the Sagittarius region. the numbers with an M before it stand for Messier(i know i slaughtered his name...) objects. The other ones, like NGC6541 are from a different catalog but i forget its name. The messier objects correspond with different Galaxys, clusters, Nebulas, and all kinds of different stuff.

 

[Jzero]

You've got it on our solar system + 200 or so other stars and objects being in the galaxy we like to call The Milky Way. The reason you have never seen and can't find a picture of our galaxy is because such a picture does not exist--you'd have to leave the galaxy to take a shot of it, and that hasn't been accomplished just yet.

AFAIK, "we" don't have a constellation. Constellations are patterns drawn in the stars based from the perspective of the Earth. That is to say, If you stood on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, you would not notice the same constellations you do on Earth, although you may spot a few...
Anyway, the Sagittarius region is an construct like constellations when viewed from Earth, so it's hard to say the sun exists in any constellation. To an observer in another solar system, it would, but that's irrelevant for us, especially b/c we know of no one who has done that.

The numbers like M54 are "messier objects." Messier developed a catologue of astronomical objects while he was trying to spot comets. Those numbers represent stars, comets, maybe some planets in our solar system, etc. I don't believe the Sun(Sol) has a Messier number because Messier knew it wasn't a comet, and wouldn't have tried to classify it as one.

THere is also the New General Catalogue, which may include an NGC# for Sol, but I was unable to find one in my brief search.

 

[OS]

<< There is no actual picture of our own galaxy (i've looked and I couldn't really find) >>



They are a bit harder to come by but they do exist. The ones that do exist are all edge on for obvious reasons.

edge on view of the milky way




<< alright, now to my question. where do constellation come in? My initial thought is that our constellation makes up the Milky Way (please correct me if I'm wrong, ?? ) and that our particular solar system is from the the Sagittarius region. (btw I am a sagittarius! ) >>



I'm not sure what you mean by "our constellation"? Constellations are arbitrary groupings of stars that ancient people/cultures played connect the dots with. They don't have any scientific or real mapping significance. Objects in our solar system cannot be a part of any constellation. The planets/asteriods/comets move around too fast to be part of any constellation and the sun, well if you see the sun you can't see any other stars.




<< You will never find a picture of a region of space that includes our solar system, taken from the outside. Why? Because we have not been far enough outside of our Solar system to take a meaningful picture yet! >>



Bzzzt! Wrong!

Solar family portrait taken by Voyager 1

You just need to know where to look

 

[DannyLove]

okay, i guess i wasn't being very clear. i wasn't asking what a constellation is. i know that. errr. let me be more specific.




<< No, we are not FROM the Milky Way, that would imply that we are currently somewhere else. Our solar system resides IN the MWG. >>

we're not? how can we not be part of the Milky way? whats a MWG?

well, i'm getting all my material here http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html

now im more confused with some of your answers

danny~!

 

[Jzero]

A matter of semantic nitpicking. To say "from the milky way" implies you are no longer there. The solar system is in the milky way.
MWG - Milky Way Galaxy.

Outersquare, your photos of the milky way are not actual photos taken by a lens from somewhere outside the milky way. I wish that site had their methodologies documented in something other than postscript files, but it was done by somthing like roping in iR radiation from outside the galaxy and extrapolating a picture based on that. That picture (
which looks like this was then colorized to the image you posted....

It's an excellent and presumably very accurate portrayal of what the MWG would look like from outside.
Just don't want anyone to think we've actually made it outside the galaxy and took a snapshot.