|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
A request for help.
Hi, all.
I'm writing a story where, for a tthrowaway bit, a character gives a coordinate position for the Sol system. My thought was to try to come up with some sort of external coordinate system where a point from the geometrical center of the milky way to the same point in the Andromeda Galaxy (as the nearest large object) would be the zero degree line and distance outward and north/south deviation from that center point would complete the description. I've tried, but can't find anything that would help me do this. (Obviously, since the Andromeda galaxy isn't in the plane of the equator of the Milky Way, I'm assuming that the zero degree line is the intersection of the plane of the Milky Way's equator with the plane that has both galaxies' centers as points in it.) I can find the Andromeda Galaxy's direction from Earth, but can't find anything that will tell me (a non-astronomer/non-mathematician) how the three points (Earth and galactic centers) stand in relation to each other. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find this out? I realize that this is, as said earlier, just going to be used in one line in the story, but I'd really like to be able to make it *sound* believable. I will be grateful for any assistance. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
For example the Andromeda galaxy is 2 million light years (LY), and a quasar
is about 8,000 million LY's distant, yet a star map to get to these and other places in the Universe has to show where they are now. The simplest way around this quandary could be to have faster than light drives that act as time machines that displaced the same light year distance per year in time traveled backwards. Then again you still need a external real time anchor otherwise if you used 'Earth' time, the resultant map would only be of use for those going to and from Earth. For a trick way out just don't explain it: Use instead the discoveries of an another advanced technology that can allow your characters to do whatever they need to do in this circumstance. Getting lost in space is real easy, which is probably why we don't have little green men running around here at the mo'. Regards Robert "E. Telly Kelly" wrote in message ... Hi, all. I'm writing a story where, for a tthrowaway bit, a character gives a coordinate position for the Sol system. My thought was to try to come up with some sort of external coordinate system where a point from the geometrical center of the milky way to the same point in the Andromeda Galaxy (as the nearest large object) would be the zero degree line and distance outward and north/south deviation from that center point would complete the description. I've tried, but can't find anything that would help me do this. (Obviously, since the Andromeda galaxy isn't in the plane of the equator of the Milky Way, I'm assuming that the zero degree line is the intersection of the plane of the Milky Way's equator with the plane that has both galaxies' centers as points in it.) I can find the Andromeda Galaxy's direction from Earth, but can't find anything that will tell me (a non-astronomer/non-mathematician) how the three points (Earth and galactic centers) stand in relation to each other. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find this out? I realize that this is, as said earlier, just going to be used in one line in the story, but I'd really like to be able to make it *sound* believable. I will be grateful for any assistance. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
In article , EvolBob
wrote: For example the Andromeda galaxy is 2 million light years (LY), and a quasar is about 8,000 million LY's distant, yet a star map to get to these and other places in the Universe has to show where they are now. The simplest way around this quandary could be to have faster than light drives that act as time machines that displaced the same light year distance per year in time traveled backwards. Thanks for the response, Robert... Actually, I'm going on the "if you've got nearly infinite power and can go fast enough, it doesn't matter" school of astrogation, here. That is, if you keep the nose of your ship pointed at where your target APPEARS to be, you can treat your path as a straight line, even though you'll actually be following a curve. And actually, it might not be all that big a curve, if you're in , say, Kim Kinnison'e "Dauntless"... Consider an incredibly sloppy, back-of-an-envelope calculation: Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies approaching each other @ 250,000 mph... ....or a bit under 2.2 * 10^9 miles/year. So, in the 2,000,000 years that it took the light to from the AG to reach us, the two galaxies have moved some: 4.4*10^15 miles closer together. 1 Light year ... call it 5.9 *10^12 miles So if I'm remembering my highschool math right, the two galaxies are almost 750 LY closer together than they appear to us. That's what... 0.0375%...? So, if we're talking a ship that can travel between the two galaxies in weeks or months, then I really think that we can just use the next local galaxy, which is moving more or less towards us, as a directional baseline and distance outward from the center of the galaxy that you're in, as a pretty fair "Tennessee windage" locator. snippage Regards Robert "E. Telly Kelly" wrote in message ... Hi, all. I'm writing a story where, for a tthrowaway bit, a character gives a coordinate position for the Sol system. My thought was to try to come up with some sort of external coordinate system where a point from the geometrical center of the milky way to the same point in the Andromeda Galaxy (as the nearest large object) would be the zero degree line and distance outward and north/south deviation from that center point would complete the description. I've tried, but can't find anything that would help me do this. (Obviously, since the Andromeda galaxy isn't in the plane of the equator of the Milky Way, I'm assuming that the zero degree line is the intersection of the plane of the Milky Way's equator with the plane that has both galaxies' centers as points in it.) I can find the Andromeda Galaxy's direction from Earth, but can't find anything that will tell me (a non-astronomer/non-mathematician) how the three points (Earth and galactic centers) stand in relation to each other. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find this out? I realize that this is, as said earlier, just going to be used in one line in the story, but I'd really like to be able to make it *sound* believable. I will be grateful for any assistance. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Request to SETI - Was: Thank You From SETI | David Woolley | SETI | 17 | May 28th 04 12:40 PM |
Odd request in the mail... | Scott Lowther | Policy | 5 | February 26th 04 03:15 AM |
Request For Aurora Observations | Richard | UK Astronomy | 0 | August 19th 03 06:21 PM |