Our Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral (or, perhaps, barred-spiral) type of galaxy that has approx. 200 to 400 billion stars and a diameter of 160,000 ly. Our Sun is approx. one third of the way out from the center, or 26,000 ly from the center (which is located in the Sagittarius region of the sky). We are found in the flat disk of the galaxy (which contains the spiral arms) and our Sun takes 230 million years to orbit the galactic nucleus once. The galaxy has a nuclear bulge which contains the nucleus (core) in which is probably a massive black hole of 3.4 million solar masses that is, perhaps, 1.6 ly in radius. There is also a halo of globular clusters of stars that encircle the galaxy (and also a more distant “outer halo” that may contain “missing” galactic mass). Globular clusters are spherical groups of up to hundreds of thousands of stars, most of which (in our galaxy) are old, metal poor (“Population II”) stars. The younger (metal rich, “Population I”) stars are found in the disk of the galaxy (which is bluish due to the O and B type stars) where active star formation is taking place. Some older stars are found in the disk as well. The bulge has mostly K, M type stars and is rich in heavy metals. Our galaxy is one of a local group of approx. 30 galaxies.
Archive for April, 2006
All’s well that ends…
April 8, 2006Sitting home today, watching the Cubs on TV, I get a knock on my door. Now, I don’t get many knocks on my door, and to be honest, I don’t really like people knocking on my door, so my initial reaction is apprehension. I look through the little hole in the door and see a young boy crying relatively hysterically. “This is not good,” I think to myself…
I open the door and the kid starts explaining to me, through sobbing and tears, that he went on a ride and now he is lost, and can’t find his way home… He keeps telling me that he just went around the block, and now he is lost, and he can’t remember where he was… I proceed to tell him it’s going to be okay, and everything is going to be fine, and not to worry… I ask him a series of questions, trying to find out exactly what the story is… He’s in town on vacation, from Ohio, and he’s visiting his Mom’s Mom (he never said Grandma), and now he’s lost and he can’t find his way home… I ask him if he remembers any street names, or anything… Nope… “Do you know your Grandma’s phone number?” I ask him. “No,” he replies. I ask for his Grandmother’s last name, he gives it to me, but can’t spell it (neither can I)… I go in the house and get my phonebook and start looking for something that might be her name… I find something, and call the number… Nope, the lady on the other end doesn’t know what I’m talking about… That didn’t work… Hmmm… He tells me the name of a street, and I don’t recognize it… So I go get my computer, and go back out on the porch with him, and proceed to use Mapquest to attempt to find this street… No luck… I ask him if his Mom has a cell phone… Ah Ha!! She does, and he knows the number… but doesn’t know the area code. I ask him where he lives in Ohio, he tells me… I go online yet again and get the area code, call the number… Voicemail. I leave a message explaining that her boy has gotten himself lost, and can’t find his way home… I leave my name and number, and hang up.
I proceed to ask him other various questions; What do you want to do while you’re on vacation? Do you like the beach? Do you like baseball? I tell him that I got lost when I was around his age (which, by the way, is eight years), and other random things to hopefully calm him down some more, and reassure him all will be okay… Through all of this he did indeed calm down a bit… So I proceed to ask him more questions about maybe what he saw on his ride, how long he’s been lost, etc. etc… Finally my phone rings… It’s his Mother… I tell her where I live, and she said she’s called the police, and she’ll be right over… “Has he been lost long?” I ask… “No, about 15 minutes…” she replies… “Ahh… okay… see you soon.” Click.
A few moments later, a police car, followed by a minivan pull up to my house… The officer is friendly, and introduces himself to me, as the Mother has some words with her son (where were you going, and why didn’t you stay on the block, etc. etc.). The Mother asks me my name, thanks me, etc. The officer then has a few words with the lad and his Mother… They load his bicycle into the back of the van, and off they go. As she’s driving off, the Mother says thanks again, and they’re gone…
During all that, the Cubs managed to score a run and ultimately beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2.
Whew…
The President and McCarthy
April 6, 2006Although Dwight Eisenhower (Eisen-hoover) deplored Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist tactics and personality, the president refused to condemn him, believing that denouncing him would alienate powerful, old-guard Republicans. McCarthy’s end came when his televised hearings on communism in the U.S. army convinced Americans that he was a cruel bully. With the Senate’s censure of McCarthy in 1954, the worst excesses of McCarthyism came to an end.
