"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message...
...

Have a picture of this galaxy(I like pictures) This galaxy shows itself
as a parrel plane in our line of view(horizontal) The picture is shown
in visible light. The first thought that comes to mind looking at the
picture is "what is that very dark area?" This dark area seems to slice
the galaxy into an upper and lower parts. It looks like a long black
cloud blocking out the stars that are in back of it. Would all galaxies
have this feature when their line of view is edge on ?
Bert

That's a beauty, Bert! Your first thought is a dust lane that spans
the circumference of the disk. The intriguiging thing for scientists
is that in high-res photos of NGC-891, there are sprays of material
(gas and dust) that are being accelerated perpendicular to the disk.
This effect is not well-understood...

http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/obs...891blocks3.jpg

And no, not all edge-on galaxies exhibit such a dust lane. Here
are more pics of edge-ons. You'll also find that dust lanes, when
they *are* present, can vary widely in size and shape...

http://www.curtisnet.co.uk/~acurtis/edge.html

In your studies, try to find images of NGC-891 in the infrared.
These are the best images for penetration of the dust lane.

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
The Flow! The Flow!
The Flow ain't goin' slow,
The Flow is goin' faster than
I really want to go.

The Flow! the Flow!
I must go with The Flow,
The Flow is where I want to be--
NOT on the sandy sho'.

NObody wants to feel...

ALL WASHED UP

Paine Ellsworth