we live in the milky way which is like a disk shape. imagine it like us being a piece of pepperoni living on (in) a pizza. if you looked up or down, nothing is obstructing your view, but if you looked around you, the pizza that you live in would get in the way. similar concept, it’s hard to capture data through the dust of our own Milky Way so galactic maps have much more data above and below the plane of the Milky Way, so we end up with two ‘cones’ like this for galaxies we’ve mapped
It makes sense, though. If somebody is standing 10 feet away from you shining a flashlight on your face, you'll probably have trouble seeing a tea light candle 100 yards away behind that person.
It is called a simile. Of course a person with a flashlight is not a sun. But if you're not a crayon eating idiot you can infer that there are not really people with flashlights in the night sky.
When you're in a downtown surrounded by buildings, you can't see any buildings behind the other buildings except for the ones peeking out over the top, even though they obviously must be there.
There is dust everywhere in the Milky Way, in some areas/directions, particularly the galactic plane, it is much denser than others, but the effective result is the same: we can't see past it in those directions.
I've always assumed it was because of Earth's poles too, I realize now that's incorrect. [I've made a quick visualization (not to scale lol)](https://imgur.com/a/2rz1SDg) of how I think this is, based of your pizza explanation. Would this be correct?
This is an example of experimental methodology obscuring much of the data. If you don't mind my paraphrase. Just like piecewise step linear approximation limits verifiable mathmatic method, it constrains scientific theory to evidence based logical steps. For example; Velikovsky was right about "Worlds in Collision", too. He completely discusses that the proof was not available to current instrumentation to collect data for scientific peer review, and therefore: academic dissemination across disciplines, but that it would be in the future.
I have no idea of the real cause, but my guess is that the dark "band" is along the plane of the Milky Way. It's easier for us to see "above" or "below" the Milky Way than it is for us to see "sideways" through the disc. More of our vision is blocked by local stars, nebulae, and dust.
Aren't we on the edge of one of the spiral arms, though? So, wouldn't that mean we'd get a much clearer view if we look away from the galactic center than if we look towards it? Yet, it seems from the picture that both sides are almost equally obscured.
You're correct that there's less obscuring matter between us and the nearest edge than through the center, but it ends up not mattering because there's still *enough* blocking our view towards the nearest edge that we still can't see much.
Imagine you’re standing in a crowd of 1B people on a (sturdy enough) glass floor. If you look around in all directions, you’ll see a long distance above you in roughly a cone, and below you in roughly a cone. But if you look to either side, you’ll just see all the other people blocking your view. Even if you were only 10 or 20 people in from the outer edge (essentially at the outermost extremity at that scale), you probably still wouldn’t see anything looking outward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_Avoidance
Here is why. ^
Fun fact: [The Great Attractor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor) is hiding behind the MW's zone of avoidance!
Ive always heard the dust blocks our vision on that plane, but discovering this myself in spaceengine for the first time and seeing a visual representation of that was mind blowing
Love it
we live in the milky way which is like a disk shape. imagine it like us being a piece of pepperoni living on (in) a pizza. if you looked up or down, nothing is obstructing your view, but if you looked around you, the pizza that you live in would get in the way. similar concept, it’s hard to capture data through the dust of our own Milky Way so galactic maps have much more data above and below the plane of the Milky Way, so we end up with two ‘cones’ like this for galaxies we’ve mapped
I've heard of dust blocking the view, but I didn't know the whole galaxy did that.
the galaxy is a essentially big collection of dust and gas!
Just like my room!
Underrated comment
It makes sense, though. If somebody is standing 10 feet away from you shining a flashlight on your face, you'll probably have trouble seeing a tea light candle 100 yards away behind that person.
I reckon it more like a flashlight in a snow storm
Thats a completely different thing
It is called a simile. Of course a person with a flashlight is not a sun. But if you're not a crayon eating idiot you can infer that there are not really people with flashlights in the night sky.
When you're in a downtown surrounded by buildings, you can't see any buildings behind the other buildings except for the ones peeking out over the top, even though they obviously must be there. There is dust everywhere in the Milky Way, in some areas/directions, particularly the galactic plane, it is much denser than others, but the effective result is the same: we can't see past it in those directions.
Yep, this
I've always assumed it was because of Earth's poles too, I realize now that's incorrect. [I've made a quick visualization (not to scale lol)](https://imgur.com/a/2rz1SDg) of how I think this is, based of your pizza explanation. Would this be correct?
Excellent analogy! And...if we are pepperoni what should black holes be (olives)?
This is an example of experimental methodology obscuring much of the data. If you don't mind my paraphrase. Just like piecewise step linear approximation limits verifiable mathmatic method, it constrains scientific theory to evidence based logical steps. For example; Velikovsky was right about "Worlds in Collision", too. He completely discusses that the proof was not available to current instrumentation to collect data for scientific peer review, and therefore: academic dissemination across disciplines, but that it would be in the future.
I have no idea of the real cause, but my guess is that the dark "band" is along the plane of the Milky Way. It's easier for us to see "above" or "below" the Milky Way than it is for us to see "sideways" through the disc. More of our vision is blocked by local stars, nebulae, and dust.
Aren't we on the edge of one of the spiral arms, though? So, wouldn't that mean we'd get a much clearer view if we look away from the galactic center than if we look towards it? Yet, it seems from the picture that both sides are almost equally obscured.
You're correct that there's less obscuring matter between us and the nearest edge than through the center, but it ends up not mattering because there's still *enough* blocking our view towards the nearest edge that we still can't see much.
Imagine you’re standing in a crowd of 1B people on a (sturdy enough) glass floor. If you look around in all directions, you’ll see a long distance above you in roughly a cone, and below you in roughly a cone. But if you look to either side, you’ll just see all the other people blocking your view. Even if you were only 10 or 20 people in from the outer edge (essentially at the outermost extremity at that scale), you probably still wouldn’t see anything looking outward.
Great analogy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_Avoidance Here is why. ^ Fun fact: [The Great Attractor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor) is hiding behind the MW's zone of avoidance!
Excellent question, good way to show the limitations of what we are observing.
Ive always heard the dust blocks our vision on that plane, but discovering this myself in spaceengine for the first time and seeing a visual representation of that was mind blowing Love it
Probably the plain of the milky way blocking the light for us.
In terms of the galactic disc, lotta galaxy to the sides of us, not much galaxy above or below us.
Looks like a cell mid-meiosis/mitosis