Talk:Milky Way

Size

Milky Way Galaxy size, every recent paper from Gaia research and various other academic and science sources. In most cases Galaxy is quoted to be between 120 to 200 000 light years across, not what this wiki article postulates 87000 light years. Data for this article dates back to 1990s, so it is very much out of date and no actual link to research but reference to some article, this isn't sufficient to to considered definitive or even accurate data. The fact that wiki has locked this article against editing ensures this data can't be disputed or corrected unless you're an editor on Wikipedia. Another reason why I never give money to Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.26.122.240 (talk) 21:27, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

Scholarly article postulates based on Gia observation, disk starts at 95.7% at 31pcs or 100 000 lightyears away from the center of the galaxy giving the Milky Way Galaxy a radius of 200 000Ly~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.26.122.240 (talk) 03:33, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

References

Declined - I'm sorry but we will not accept this request.

The Gaia article that you have cited uses disk stars as the limiter. But here is the thing: major astronomical surveys do not use this definition of size. This definition is restricted to Local Group galaxies, largely on Andromeda and the Milky Way, because tracing faint disk stars becomes impossible at distances beyond the Local Group.

Galaxy sizes in surveys like 2MASS, RC3, and SDSS uses either the D₂₅ standard or variations of the half-light radius (see Galaxy#Physical diameters section for context) to measure the diameters of galaxies. This is widely regarded as standard (see this NED/IPAC document) for astronomy and so we should follow this definition. In the case of the Milky Way, the latest paper that uses this definition is Goodwin (1998), which made a figure for the diameter at 26.8 ± 1.1 kiloparsecs (87,400 ± 3,600 light-years) using D₂₅.

See also Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 August 2#The size of the Milky Way Galaxy for the in-depth discussion about this topic. SkyFlubbler (talk) 03:16, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

References

Mass

Stated Mass is entirely incorrect and confusing readers.

Mass is not 1.15 x 10^12, but 2.06 10^11. Any recent article references the Milky Way to be 200 billion suns in mass. This is especially apparent when viewing articles discussing dark matter, where the visible mass is pinned at 60 billion suns, and dark matter occupying the remaining 140 billion solar masses. Dark Matter in the Milky Way having ubiquitously having a mean ratio of 2:1 over ordinary matter; historically 2.3:1, most recently 1.81:1. Now if we can at least agree that either way, your 1.15 x 10^12 figure is way off so that someone can investigate something that reflects reality and not confuse the viewers and readers. I myself was confused when looking at the mass because I was looking at the 1.81:1 dark matter to matter ratio and saw a figure of 60 billion mass. You are causing mass confusion. Fix this.

I am outraged that the mass has not be updated.  

Outraged.

https://www.observatoiredeparis.psl.eu/IMG/pdf/pr_op-psl_mass_milky_way_en_v3def.pdf Tted3286 (talk) 00:59, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

redirect List of names for the Milky Way to Milky Way (mythology)

More room, more material can be preserved. Serendi^podous 23:29, 27 March 2024 (UTC)