Astrophysicists Determine Sun's Location in Milky Way
Astrophysicists have determined the location of our Sun in the Milky Way with an accuracy of 2% through the use of two tools: 1) the Very Large Base Array (VLBA), a system of ten 25 meter diameter dish antennas spread from Hawaii to St. Croix in the Caribbean that all work together as a single telescopic system roughly the size of the Earth and 2) Trigonometric Parallax as the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun.
Comments:
So what happened to the Orion Arm that we were located near last week?<br><br>George in Idaho
That was when we were a spiral, now that we're in a barred spiral, it's the Perseus arm <img class='' src='http://new.astromart.com/astromart/javascripts/sceditor/emoticons/smile.png' alt='smile' title='smile'/>
George:<br><br>You are right. We are located inside the Orion Arm (aka the Local Spur), which is half way between the Perseus Arm and the Sagittarius Arm. Here is a diagram that shows our location a little more clearly.<br><br>http://members.nova.org/~sol/chview/milkyway.jpg<br><br>Hope this helps.<br><br>Guy Pirro<br><br>
Funding Member
