Our Solar System is in a Boring Part of the Milky Way Galaxy!
Earth's Location in the Milky Way Galaxy
I know you’ve all been thinking it! The Solar System is in a really boring part of the Milky Way Galaxy. We are marooned out here in one of the remote (some may say back water) areas of the Orion Spiral Arm about 20 degrees above the galactic plane and about 28,000 light years from the center of the galaxy.
To illustrate my point, consider the following: We are on the outer edge of a spiral arm. The closest star, Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light years away. The closest planetary nebula, the Helix Nebula, is over 45o light years away. Folks, there is nothing around us! Consider what it would be like if we were near the galactic core. Our night sky would be filled with the glow of millions of neighboring suns. It would be sprinkled with the multicolored mosaic of numerous nebulae. It would crackle with the energy of stars being consumed by the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy which would be visible only by the light that is able to escape it’s enormous event horizon.
Night Sky at the Galactic Core
I wonder though, has our relatively quiet location allowed life to form on our planet? If we lived closer to core, would our planet be constantly bombarded by the lethal energy being released by dying stars going nova? Would the planet be subject to the unending impact of bits and pieces of other solar systems that are constantly being ripped apart by the gravity wells of millions of neighboring stars? Maybe by being left alone out here, life was given a chance to happen.
Tell us what you think. If you could live anywhere in the universe, where would it be?
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Honestly, I cannot answer that. Thank you for putting this up, because I like to read about this, and dream of being a NASA worker, discovering all these things, and you are helping me. Thank you.
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I have to agree. Yeah it would be a show, but WE would be part of the destruction show. It is being out here where…even being in a slow part of the galaxy, our planet still experiences life ending comets all too often. You explained it well my friend.
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Greg - Staff Writer replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Good point John! Although some say those comets also brought the materials to our planet needed for life to develop…. It makes you wonder, how unique is our planet and how rare is life as we know it?
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i dont know if i would want to live anywhere else in the galaxy. but i would like to live on another planet. maybe Venus or something like that
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Bob replied:
August 18th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I think it would actually be interesting to live on venus. maybe if it was a little further from the Sun, so we wouldn’t roast. Venus would be a little difficult to live on with, with all of the toxic gasses in its atmosphere, but it may have been possible to live on it when it was younger.
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great title!
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every thing is so vast and beyond human imagination. i wonder who created all this. but all this makes us look very small. Is it not?
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You have a very good point Greg! If i were to chose a place in the Milk. I would definitely not choose some where in the center. I like the outer ring where far away from the Black hole and where you can see the night sky light up with star every where. Eventhough if you were to live in city like LA, CA. We see nothing here or places like Orange county, ca. I am still remeber looking up into the sky at night in the remote farm in Vietnam years ago when i was like 7-8 years old, the nightly sky fill with so many star bright and dim and alot of them. 30 years ago in the remote farm in Vietnam is the best place to look up the sky at night, now there are more lights and the city, i don’t think we have the same view any more. Too bad that i was too young to remmber the beauty of all these!
thanks Greg
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Greg - Staff Writer replied:
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Thanks for the comment Justin! I agree that it is getting more difficult to see the full beauty of the night sky because of the bright lights from our cities. A couple of years ago, I was in French Polynesia on an island in the middle of nowhere with no lights around and the view was awesome! I imagine it was similar to what you saw growing up in Vietnam.
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Great article! Really makes you think.
I think it would be cool to see earth as we see the moon, a big blue and green planet with white clouds every night. That would be beautiful.
But I have seen many beautiful nights here, from shooting stars to meteor showers and now an eclipse! Space is absolutly amazing! <3
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I can surely say, if our solar system would’ve been near to the core, more stars or say more heavenly body’s gravitational and light force would’ve been there and would the life in all forms would’ve been filled with more powers in all possibilities on our Earth and less of diseases causing bacteria and viruses could’ve survived in such situation.
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Consider this. We are 20 degrees from the top side of the Milky Way plane and moving closer to the center at alarming speeds. The tilt of our solar system is held in place by the magnetic fields of the Milky Way and in turn the tilt of earth is held in place by the magnetic fields of our solar system. So what happens to our little blue ball when our solar system passes from the top to the bottom of the Milky Way plane?
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Outer space traveling is dangerous, so I’m not being an astronaut. I’ll be an artist. Black holes,wormholes, and galaxy tunnels are risky. =(
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Although living in the galactic core is probably impossible, it would be cool if we were on the edge of a Nebula. If that were the case, the night sky would be filled with far more stars than there are here, also space travel would be easier, as the nearest stars would all be less than one lightyear away. It also wouldn’t be to dangerous there, as the stellar neighborhood wouldn’t be as cluttered as in the core. Also, in a nebula or stellar nursery, most of the stars are young and wouldn’t emit excessive amounts of radiation.
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Some people are never satisfied.
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In the core, life would be eradicated too often for anything interesting to evolve. There are just too many stars, too close together, all exploding and shedding mass and high-energy particles. I think being located in a “boring” part of the galaxy is essential for complex life to evolve.
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We don’t know. Every time astronomers look into the universe they discover more galaxies. Some parts of the universe have been looked at yet,and there are other parts that telescope cannot see.
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Although it would be neat to live somewhere else in the galaxy, it may be to hostile in other areas. like areas bombarded with too much light, or meteors, or maybe it’s just too hot. like Greg said, maybe being left alone let life develop here on Earth.
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Imagine what we will be able to see when they launch the James Webb Telescope!
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I find it fascinating to see where earth is located in this one galaxy among many, possibly countless galaxies. I remember a physist saying there is a 100% probability of other intelligent life in the universe. There is also a new teaching that states our galaxy and the universe is full of intelligent life far beyond our technological and mental abilities. I have found the Allies of Humanity and Greater Community Spirituality to be sources that push us to expand our understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe.
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Granted, we do not live on the edge of a nebula with many close stars for view. However, we are positioned very well within our galaxy to see and understand our position within the Local Group of galaxies and to comprehend the age of the universe. If we were closer to the center of the Milky Way, we may not be able to see stars and galaxies up 13.2 billion light years away.
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Noting where we are/exist within our own Solar/Galaxy system greatly emphasises how insignificant we are in relation to this Universe. That is until we pedal backwards and look at the diversity our own planet offers through evolution. Therefore we cannot be placed anywhere else in the cosmos, for what we have become. Yes I would love to see a world from another perspective in another galaxy. As for God (ref to Who created this), I cannot make reference to such in the wider equation of what the Universe is…it doesn’t add up. Beautiful it all is and best placed where we are until we are no more.
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Where else could we watch the red storm on Jupiter with Halley’s Comet’s tail stretching thousands of miles across the sky? Where else would great auroras light up the poles of our home with brilliant greens blues and reds while our own fantastic cyclones tower above our world. We have yet to understand our own corner of the universe. I could think of many, many more boring places.
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