Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/astronomers-find-the-edge-of-the-milky-way/

by bookofjoe • 3 months ago

159 44 3 months ago

skyandtelescope.org

neals• 3 months ago

Just the daily post that makes me feel small and insignificant.

dylan6042• 3 months ago

I prefer that feeling much more than the modern sense from social media where everyone is abnormally important

rambojohnson• 3 months ago

Seriously. Being meaningless and insignificant gives you more freedom, and nowhere to hide from what you do with it. I’ve never understood cosmic dread. It feels like a release valve instead of a threat.

dotancohen2• 3 months ago

Is this a non-sequiter or just poorly phrased?

  > Disk galaxies like the Milky Way form stars “inside-out” — starting from the center and working outwards through the disk. So, as a general rule, the farther out astronomers look, the younger the stars are.

Do they meant looking out from Earth (which is actually nearer to the center of a spiral arm than to either end) or out from the galactic bulge. Either way doesn't make sense.

colechristensen• 3 months ago

It is beyond obvious what they mean.

_factor• 3 months ago

Poorly phrased. The most recent stars are on the edges. The inner stars were first, hence the “working outwards”.

kakacik• 3 months ago

But why? Star forms when enough hydrogen (or maybe also helium) clusters together with gravity to spark fusion IIRC. The center of Milky way ain't some ultra dense place where stars are just trillions of kms from each other to support somehow earlier star formation.

Or did ie dark matter/energy somehow coalesce on the outer edge later? Milky way is supposed to be very old place, almost as old as universe itself so one would expect more homogeneous distribution, at least as a layperson.

happytoexplain• 3 months ago

I actually am not following what the ambiguity is - stars farther out from the center are younger, no?

kadoban• 3 months ago

The Earth isn't the center of the galaxy, so this feels confusing/confused:

So, as a general rule, the farther out astronomers look, the younger the stars are.

malfist2• 3 months ago

When does "starting in the center" mean anything besides "starting in the center"?

The earth is not the center of the galaxy

assimpleaspossi3• 3 months ago

He didn't say that. He said earth is nearer to the center of a spiral arm.

furyofantares2• 3 months ago

The Earth is where the astronomers are. If they are looking outward (away from the center) then the further they look, the younger the stars.

JumpCrisscross• 3 months ago

Try: "the farther out [from the center] astronomers look"

ww520• 3 months ago

Looking from Earth at the stars closer to the center of a galaxy, they are found to be older. Looking from Earth at the stars closer to the edge of a galaxy, they are found to be younger.

eventualcomp• 3 months ago

To use an analogy, to add to everybody else: it's like rings on a tree stump. The innermost part of the stump is the oldest; the outer the youngest. Earth is on one of those in-between rings, neither the oldest nor the newest - doesn't matter which of the in-betweens, to be honest.

Suppose now that you're an ant on the middle ring of that tree stump. No matter which way you're looking from Earth's middle-ring, either the rings will get gradually older and then younger with increasing distance (if you're looking towards the center-ish), or the rings will get strictly younger (if you're looking away from the center-ish).

This analogy obviously breaks down if you delve into details but that should give a better intuition to what's going on.

furyofantares2• 3 months ago

From Earth (where astronomers are) looking "out"ward (away from the bulge).

jibal2• 3 months ago

Earth isn't relevant. The stars at the center of the galaxy developed first, and development proceeded from the inside out, so the youngest stars are on the edge ... then they get older from there on out, as the stars beyond the edge broke away from the galaxy. The bottom of the age U is the location of the formative edge.

two_handfuls• 3 months ago

They don't mean that the stars migrate out (then further stars would be older), they mean that stars further away from the center start forming later (so further stars are younger).

I agree that the phrasing can be confusing.

yrcyrc• 3 months ago

Great. Next Laniakea

layer8• 3 months ago

Better, adblocker-friendly article (original press release): https://www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/learn/2026/theedgeofthemilky...

Paper: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58144-...

withinboredom• 3 months ago

Thanks. Cloudflare took so long to determine whether or not I was bot-shaped that I just came to the comments.

onchainintel• 3 months ago

Incredible. "Hi honey, what did you do at work today? Casually discovered the edge of the galaxy. How are you?"

ordu• 3 months ago

I think they have been looking for the edge for years, and the discovery had come gradually over some time. So I don't think that "casually" fits there and "today" doesn't make things better.

rob742• 3 months ago

Title: "Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way"

First sentence in the article: "Astronomers have located the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disk for the first time"

Wouldn't you expect someone from a publication called "Sky & Telescope" to know that these two are different things?!

Also, in diagrams showing our galaxy, I would greatly appreciate a "you are here" marker which points out the location of our solar system...

thaumasiotes2• 3 months ago

Also, in diagrams showing our galaxy, I would greatly appreciate a "you are here" marker which points out the location of our solar system...

What would that mean?

Try locating France on this map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:T_and_O_map_Guntherus_Zin...

rob742• 3 months ago

Ok, I would be happy with an approximate location too. On that map, I would place France in Europa right beside the mediterraneum, pretty much on the Occidens side (although not at the very edge).

kridsdale12• 3 months ago

It’s right where the V (Latin U) symbol is.

matt-attack• 3 months ago

Do we not know where we are in the galaxy? I would have thought that was well established.

TZubiri• 3 months ago

Oh thank goodness, I've been looking for that.

chirau• 3 months ago

How are claims like these verified?

kridsdale12• 3 months ago

Looking up.

hulitu• 3 months ago

I'm still searching for the location of the Restaurant at the end of the universe.

mrsvanwinkle• 3 months ago

It's not a search problem it's a grammar problem: https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~param/quotes/guide.html

Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way

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