What Does the Milky Way Look Like?
Ye Xu, Chaojie Hao, D. J. Liu, Z. H. Lin, Shuaibo Bian, Li‐Peng Hou, J. J. Li, Yingjie Li
Abstract
Abstract In spite of much work, the overall spiral structure morphology of the Milky Way remains somewhat uncertain. In the last two decades, accurate distance measurements have provided us with an opportunity to solve this issue. Using the precise locations of very young objects, for the first time, we propose that our galaxy has a multiple-arm morphology that consists of two-arm symmetry (the Perseus and Norma Arms) in the inner parts and that extends to the outer parts, where there are several long, irregular arms (the Centaurus, Sagittarius, Carina, Outer, and Local Arms).
Topics & Concepts
Milky WayPhysicsSpiral galaxySagittariusGalaxyLocal GroupAstronomyAstrophysicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstrophysics and Star Formation StudiesAstronomy and Astrophysical Research