| ## “This is the [[Milky Way]] Galaxy, the one we live in. Here it is simulated out to 10000 years, notice, not much rotation. Here is is simulated out to 10 million years. (it rotates slightly, and a few stars wink in and others out of existence).” | | ## “This is the [[Milky Way]] Galaxy, the one we live in. Here it is simulated out to 10000 years, notice, not much rotation. Here is is simulated out to 10 million years. (it rotates slightly, and a few stars wink in and others out of existence).” |
− | ## The image expands to show two galaxies. “the Milky Way and [[Wikipedia:Andromeda_Galaxy|Andromeda]].” The simulation starts as the two galaxies, spinning on their axis. “As you may be aware, Andromeda and The Milky Way are being drawn towards one another at 402,000 kilometers an hour.” The galaxies move towards each other. “it is predicted in 4 billion years, they will collide” the leading edges of the spiraling forms collide and stars and clouds of gas begin to scatter an re-align. “This is sped way up. It won’t be as violent as it seems here. The orbits of stars within both galaxies will be effected, and the supermassive black holes at their centers will be drawn towards each other” The galactic centers spin around each other in a long dance, growing closer and closer together with each orbit. “until eventually the centers will collide, and the stars will finally reach a stable orbit.” The screen echos his narration. The simulation stops, and he hits a button “here is a star map of what we can see around us and the places we have been.” He presses another button and the star-map is overlaid to the galactic simulation. It zooms in to a part of the galaxy, further and further down, and then stops, among a field of stars. “the match isn’t exact, there are some stars the simulation doesn’t account for, other object we just don’t know exist within Andromeda that would effect other orbits, but...” the overlay shifts a bit, and several starts match up. “this simulation has almost 40% match rate for the stars we have encountered, including age. Now 40% may not sound like a lot to you, but when you consider the amount of unaccountable variable in simulating something out 4 billion years…” The image of the star map duplicates side by side. The map on the left rotates from top-down to looking along the axis of the galaxy, pointing towards the galactic center. “And of course, there’s this.” Next to the simulated image, a live view from the starlight’s external camera points towards the galactic center, they both share the same unfamiliar diffuse glow that is so different from the Milky Way “ this is shockingly similar looking”. | + | ## The image expands to show two galaxies. “the Milky Way and [[Wikipedia:Andromeda_Galaxy|Andromeda]].” The simulation starts as the two galaxies, spinning on their axis. “As you may be aware, Andromeda and The Milky Way are being drawn towards one another at 402,000 kilometers an hour.” The galaxies move towards each other. “it is predicted in 4 billion years, they will collide” the leading edges of the spiraling forms collide and stars and clouds of gas begin to scatter an re-align. “This is sped way up. It won’t be as violent as it seems here. The orbits of stars within both galaxies will be effected, and the supermassive black holes at their centers will be drawn towards each other” The galactic centers spin around each other in a long dance, growing closer and closer together with each orbit. “until eventually the centers will collide, and the stars will finally reach a stable orbit.” The screen echos his narration. The simulation stops, and he hits a button “here is a star map of what we can see around us and the places we have been.” He presses another button and the star-map is overlaid to the galactic simulation. It zooms in to a part of the galaxy, further and further down, and then stops, among a field of stars. “the match isn’t exact, there are some stars the simulation doesn’t account for, other object we just don’t know exist within Andromeda that would effect other orbits, but...” the overlay shifts a bit, and several starts match up. “this simulation has almost 40% match rate for the stars we have encountered, including age. Now 40% may not sound like a lot to you, but when you consider the amount of unaccountable variable in simulating something out 4 billion years…” The image of the star map duplicates side by side. The map on the left rotates from top-down to looking along the axis of the galaxy, pointing towards the galactic center. “And of course, there’s this.” Next to the simulated image, a live view from the [[UWS Starlight|starlight]]’s external camera points towards the galactic center, they both share the same unfamiliar diffuse glow that is so different from the Milky Way “ this is shockingly similar looking”. |
| ## What I’m saying is, I think we may not have been transported to a where as much a when. Relatively speaking, we may not have moved very much at all. | | ## What I’m saying is, I think we may not have been transported to a where as much a when. Relatively speaking, we may not have moved very much at all. |