space.com— A recent sky survey has turned up eight new members in our Local Group of galaxies, including a new class of ultra-faint "hobbit" galaxies and what might be the smallest galaxy ever discovered.
Jan 15, 2007View in Crawl 4
I believe it was Reagan who used the phrase "touch the face of God" in the speech regarding the loss of the Challenger astronauts. Regarding your other complaint, shut up.
So it seems, and now everything that is small is called a 'hobbit'. I hope these scientists realise that hobbits are not real. Stupid scientists, naming scientific phenomenon after fictional charaters in a fantasy book - the same fictional characters - over and over. Way to stand out from the religious crowd.
What I want to know is: WTF is the difference between a "hobbit galaxy" and a globular cluster?There are definitely clusters within the Milky Way that are larger than these "hobbit galaxies". They are definitely in orbit around the Milky Way, the same as the clusters. They consist almost entirely of old stars - just like clusters. Is the difference merely how far from the core they are?
Obvioustroll, I'd guess the difference is based on the extent of gravitational attraction holding these systems together. A globular cluster would be far more densely packed per volume of space (cubic light year, parsec, whatever) with stars (and hence more gravitationally bound) than one of these so-called "hobbit galaxies".
Closed AccountJan 16, 2007
I believe it was Reagan who used the phrase "touch the face of God" in the speech regarding the loss of the Challenger astronauts. Regarding your other complaint, shut up.
ray901Jan 16, 2007
So it seems, and now everything that is small is called a 'hobbit'. I hope these scientists realise that hobbits are not real. Stupid scientists, naming scientific phenomenon after fictional charaters in a fantasy book - the same fictional characters - over and over. Way to stand out from the religious crowd.
obvioustrollJan 16, 2007
What I want to know is: WTF is the difference between a "hobbit galaxy" and a globular cluster?There are definitely clusters within the Milky Way that are larger than these "hobbit galaxies". They are definitely in orbit around the Milky Way, the same as the clusters. They consist almost entirely of old stars - just like clusters. Is the difference merely how far from the core they are?
pavlovscatJan 16, 2007
Obvioustroll, I'd guess the difference is based on the extent of gravitational attraction holding these systems together. A globular cluster would be far more densely packed per volume of space (cubic light year, parsec, whatever) with stars (and hence more gravitationally bound) than one of these so-called "hobbit galaxies".