The Milky Way is 50% heavier than we thought
In the continued evolution of our (highly limited) knowledge about our own solar system, we just figured out it was 50% larger than we previously thought. Which means we are no longer the little brother to Andromeda, but of a roughly similar size.
The reason behind all of this is that it is much easier to look out of our galaxy than to see it, and thus we know much less about the Milky Way than we do about galaxies around us. Just recently, it lost 50% of its spiral arms (dropping from 4 to 2), now it gains 50% more mass. And, at the same time, scientists think that there are many more planets out there that would sustain human life than previously thought -- one big step towards the Star Trek fantasy of stepping out of the shuttle and taking a big healthy breath (most likely after a good bit of terraforming, but so be it.)
The reason behind all of this is that it is much easier to look out of our galaxy than to see it, and thus we know much less about the Milky Way than we do about galaxies around us. Just recently, it lost 50% of its spiral arms (dropping from 4 to 2), now it gains 50% more mass. And, at the same time, scientists think that there are many more planets out there that would sustain human life than previously thought -- one big step towards the Star Trek fantasy of stepping out of the shuttle and taking a big healthy breath (most likely after a good bit of terraforming, but so be it.)
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