Did we inherit good galactic genes?

As astronomers, we have our usual suspects to observe at nights. Saturn, Jupiter, the moon, M31, M13, M42, etc. However, if you think about it, there aren't a lot of objects in our sky that really are worth looking at unless you have a huge telescope. Which begs the question, how good are our galactic genes?

I mean, wouldn't it be great if we had:

3 or 4 moons around the Earth

20 planets in our solar system(with about 5 or 6 that are like Jupiter/Saturn and can easily be seen in a small scope and show great detail)

20+ M31 type galaxies up in the night sky

10 or so M42's

etc etc.

All of these objects would be different shapes and colors. As astronomers this would be total bliss. Can you just imagine having 10 or so M42's up in the night sky? All 10 would fill up a medium powered ep and still be totally unique in shape and color.

Please, for the moment suspend your disbelief. In other words no comments like "Well, if we had 3-4 moons this would cause too much light blah blah blah.....

Just look up in the night sky and think to yourself "What if?".

Of course the irony behind this is the simple expression "Thank your lucky stars for what you have now". How true, how true.

Hate to rain on your parade, but, if we had four moons, when would be the new moon night that we like to observe faint fuzzies.

I might go for the four moons if we could get rid of this atmosphere thing that we have.

An interesting sidelight: If we lived in the middle of a globular cluster we would have so many bright stars, we may never have seen past them to see other deep space objects outside our cluster.

Alex

"I mean, wouldn't it be great if we had:
3 or 4 moons around the Earth "

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You'd have to enjoy those moons, because you could forget about deep-sky viewing under those circumstances. It'd be a looooooong wait between times of 4 simultaneous 'new moons'! :-D

It seems to me our galactic genes are just fine. We are in what appears to be a spiral galaxy, in an area fairly distant from the galactic center with a rather sparse population of nearby stars. Wouldn't it be worse for us deep-sky observers if we were:
1. In one of the billions of elliptical galaxies?
2. Closer to our galactic center?
3. In a part of our galaxy surrounded by obscuring dust clouds (such as we see in M104, etc.)?
4. In a solar system within a globular cluster?
5. In a young solar system still surrounded by the hydrogen clouds from which it formed (this may not be a problem, as I believe there are very few atoms of this gas per cubic centimeter within these nebulae)?
Anyhow, your question makes us think. Thanks. Herbert Kraus.

I agree that I would like to see the sky look like some really cool space art but there is a problem.

Take the view from the end of one of the Star Wars movies when they are looking at this huge galaxy hanging outside the space ship. There is the problem. As soon as you get far enough away from something to take it all in, it becomes too faint to see. If you were positioned on the outside of the galaxy or the other side of globular, A nearby galaxy like M31 would still be a smudge. As soon as you got far enough away from something cool, so you could take it all in, it would start to fade out on you because of the distance. Now if we were orbiting Saturn... now that would be cool!

Daryl

How about being in the middle of a cluster of galaxies, like the Virgo cluster? I've seen about fifty Messiers with my little 4.5" Newt, but only five galaxies.
Just my $.02.

Clear nights ... dark sights,
Darren