In 1925 astronomers thought that the Milky Way galaxy was the universe. They believed the "nebulae" that they were viewing were star clusters and gas clouds within the Milky Way. 85 years ago Edwin Hubble postulated, and proved, that these nebulae were distant galaxies and our Milky Way was one of an incalculable number of galaxies comprising the universe. This is a fairly recent discovery and makes me wonder what beliefs we take for granted now will be altered in the coming decades.
Links:
Edwin Hubble Wiki
2 comments:
I bet Vernor Vinge knows~ right Val? ;)
It took an inconceivable amount of time for the Universe to get to the way it is today, and it will take at least that long accurately answer questions such as that. Awesome picture by the way.
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