Scientists Now Know: We're Not From Here!
Summary & comments by Dan Eden for Viewzone
Viewzone Milky Way

Imagine the shock of growing up in a loving family with people you call "Mum" and "Dad" and then, suddenly, learning that you are actually adopted!

This same sense of shock came as scientists announced that the Sun, the Moon, our planet and its siblings, were not born into the familiar band of stars known as the Milky Way galaxy, but we actually belong to a strange formation with the unfamiliar name of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy!

How can this be?

Using volumes of data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a major project to survey the sky in infrared light led by the University of Massachusetts, the astronomers are answering questions that have baffled scientists for decades and proving that our own Milky Way is consuming one of its neighbors in a dramatic display of ongoing galactic cannibalism. The study published in the Astrophysical Journal, is the first to map the full extent of the Sagittarius galaxy and show in visually vivid detail how its debris wraps around and passes through our Milky Way. Sagittarius is 10,000 times smaller in mass than the Milky Way, so it is getting stretched out, torn apart and gobbled up by the bigger Milky Way.

.. The new study used infrared observations from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).

A new infra red digital survey of the entire sky was made in 2003. Teams from the universities of Virginia and Massachusetts used a supercomputer to sort through half a billion stars to create a -- NEW STAR MAP showing our Solar System (yellow circle) to be at the exact nexus crossroads where two galaxies are actually joining.

"It's clear who's the bully in the interaction," said Steven Majewski, U.Va. professor of astronomy and lead author on the paper describing the results.

"If people had infrared-sensitive eyes, the entrails of Sagittarius would be a prominent fixture sweeping across our sky," Majewski said. "But at human, visual wavelengths, they become buried among countless intervening stars and obscuring dust. The great expanse of the Sagittarius system has been hidden from view."

Not any more. By using infrared maps, the astronomers filtered away millions of foreground stars to focus on a type of star called an M giant. These large, infrared-bright stars are populous in the Sagittarius galaxy but uncommon in the outer Milky Way. The 2MASS infrared map of M giant stars analyzed by Majewski and collaborators is the first to give a complete view of the Milky Way galaxy's meal of Sagittarius stars, now wrapping like a spaghetti noodle around the Milky Way. Prior to this work, astronomers had detected only a few scattered pieces of the disrupted Sagittarius dwarf. Even the existence of Sagittarius was unknown until the heart of this nearest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way was discovered by a British team of astronomers in 1994.

Here's an animation of the "marriage".

The fact that the Milky Way is seen in the sky at an angle has always puzzled astronomers. If we originated from the Milky Way, we ought to be oriented to the galaxy's ecliptic, with the planets aligned around our Sun in much the same angle as our Sun aligns with the Milky Way. Instead, as first suggested by researcher Matthew Perkins Erwin, the odd angle suggests that our Sun is influenced by some other system. Together with data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey we now know what it is. We actually belong to the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy.

"We sifted several thousand interesting stars from a catalog of half a billion," said co-author Michael Skrutskie, U.Va. professor of astronomy and principal investigator for the 2MASS project. "By tuning our maps of the sky to the 'right' kind of star, the Sagittarius system jumped into view."

.. Our angle is clearly "off" 60 - 90 degrees to the Milky Way in the night sky "Because we are being pulled in from an adjoining galactic stream and obviously now in the final stages of joining with the Milky Way..." May 30th 2006 -- Matt Erwin 

We are from another galaxy in the process of joining with the Milky Way. The Milky Way is actually not our parent galaxy. The mystery of why the Milky Way has always been sideways in the night sky has never been answered -- until now.

"This first full-sky map of Sagittarius shows its extensive interaction with the Milky Way," Majewski said. "Both stars and star clusters now in the outer parts of the Milky Way have been 'stolen' from Sagittarius as the gravitational forces of the Milky Way nibbled away at its dwarf companion. This one vivid example shows that the Milky Way grows by eating its smaller neighbors."

The study's map of M giants depicts 2 billion years of Sagittarius stripping by the Milky Way, and suggests that Sagittarius has reached a critical phase in what had been a slow dance of death.

"After slow, continuous gnawing by the Milky Way, Sagittarius has been whittled down to the point that it cannot hold itself together much longer," said 2MASS Science Team member and study co-author Martin Weinberg of the University of Massachusetts. "We are seeing Sagittarius at the very end of its life as an intact system."

Does this mean we are at a unique moment in the life of our galaxy? Yes and no.

"Whenever possible, astronomers appeal to the principle that we are not at a special time or place in the universe," Majewski said. "Because over the 14 billion-year history of the Milky Way it is unlikely that we would just happen to catch a brief event like the death of Sagittarius, we infer that such events must be common in the life of big spiral galaxies like our own. The Milky Way probably dined on a number of dwarf galaxy snacks in the past."

On the other hand, Majewski and his colleagues have been surprised by the Earth's proximity to a portion of the Sagittarius debris.

"For only a few percent of its 240 million-year orbit around the Milky Way galaxy does our Solar System pass through the path of Sagittarius debris," Majewski said. "Remarkably, stars from Sagittarius are now raining down onto our present position in the Milky Way. Stars from an alien galaxy are relatively near us. We have to re-think our assumptions about the Milky Way galaxy to account for this contamination."

The new findings will help astronomers measure the total mass of the Milky Way and Sagittarius galaxies, and probe the quantity and distribution of the invisible dark matter in these systems.

"The shape of the Sagittarius debris trail shows us that the Milky Way's unseen dark matter is in a spherical distribution, a result that is quite unexpected," Weinberg said.

"The observations provide new insights into the nature of the mysterious dark matter," said Princeton's Spergel. "Either our galaxy is unusual or the dark matter has richer properties than postulated by conventional models."

Implications in Global Warming?

It has been postulated that this is the real reason for both global warming since higher energy levels of the Milky Way are almost certain to cause our Sun to burn hotter and emit higher energies. Indeed, temperatures have been seen to rise on virtually all the planets in our system. This seems quite apart from any local phenomenon like greenhouse gases etc.

This grand turning is possibly the root cause for the discontinuation of the Mayan calendar (the most accurate on the planet) because the 'read-point' of the Pleiades star cluster, which many believe the calendar was based upon, can no longer be a constant as we begin to steer away from the earlier predictable movements.

.. ..

Other changes happening in our system

The "marriage" of our birth galaxy with our new adopted Milky Way galaxy is causing energy shifts that are obvious just about everywhere. Here are some changes being watched by scientists:

• A growth of dark spots on Pluto.
• Reporting of auroras on Saturn.
• Reporting of Uranus and Neptune polar shifts (They are magnetically conjugate planets), and the abrupt large-scale growth of Uranus' magnetosphere intensity.
• A change in light intensity and light spot dynamics on Neptune.
• The doubling of the magnetic field intensity on Jupiter (based upon 1992 data), and a series of new states and processes observed on this planet as an aftermath of a series of explosions in July 1994 [caused by "Comet" SL-9]. That is, a relaxation of a plasmoid train which excited the Jovian magnetosphere, thus inducing excessive plasma generation and it's release in the same manner as Solar coronal holes inducing an appearance of radiation belt brightening in decimeter band (13.2 and 36 cm), and the appearance of large auroral anomalies and a change of the Jupiter - Io system of currents.
• Update Note: A stream of ionized hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. is being directed to Jupiter from the volcanic areas of Io through a one million amperes flux tube. It is affecting the character of Jupiter's magnetic process and intensifying it's plasma genesis.[Z.I.Vselennaya "Earth and Universe" N3, 1997 plo-9 by NASA data] Editor's Note See here
• A series of Martian atmosphere transformations increasing its biosphere quality. In particularly, a cloudy growth in the equator area and an unusual growth of ozone concentration.
• Update Note: Mars Surveyor Satellite encountered an atmospheric density double that projected by NASA upon entering a Mars orbit. This greater density bent one of the solar array arms beyond the full and open stop. This combination of events has delayed the beginning of the scheduled photo mission for one year.
• A first stage atmosphere generation on the Moon, where a growing natrium atmosphere is detected that reaches 9,000 km in height.
• Significant physical, chemical and optical changes observed on Venus; an inversion of dark and light spots detected for the first time, and a sharp decrease of sulfur-containing gases in its atmosphere.
• A Change in the Quality of Interplanetary Space Towards an Increase in Its Interplanetary and Solar-Planetary Transmitting Properties.

When speaking of new energetic and material qualities of interplanetary space, we must first point out the increase of the interplanetary domains energetic charge, and level of material saturation. This change of the typical mean state of interplanetary space has two main causes:

• The supply/inflow of matter from interstellar space. (Radiation material, ionized elements, and combinations.)
• The after effects of Solar Cycle 22 activity, especially as a result of fast coronal mass ejection's [CME's] of magnetized solar plasmas.

What does it all mean?

We of the overarching Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy have finally come down next to, and even with the massively powerful spiral armed equatorial plane of the Milky Way Galaxy.

In our movement through space, our Earth has now fully begun to respond to the more powerful galactic energies and electro-gravitational bias of the massive Milky Way. We have reached the higher energy equatorial disc region of the massive spiral arm. We have now been "adopted" by a new system, a stronger and more powerful system, and we can expect changes on almost every level of energy.

Whatever these changes are, they are all part of the natural birth, death, rebirth and transformation of the cosmos. As our knowledge of the universe grows, we cannot but understand how much we do not understand. Such is life.

[For further reading we suggest you go to Matthew Perkins Erwin's blog; abc.net.au which was the basis of this summary.]

Readers may also be interested to read about Doomsday: The Mayan Prophecy. 

Comments:

From Dan Eden:

Back when the telescope was first invented, those who observed the movement of the planets postulated that the Earth was not the center of "God's creation" and were criticized, imprisoned and even put to death as heretics. The criticism was usually vague and simply stated that things were not that way because... everyone should know they it's just not that way... A paradigm is always difficult to change and seldom yields to a newer idea without much dialog and discussion.

When we published this story in June of 2007 we hoped it would initiate some thought and perhaps get people asking questions. It sure did that! But we also received comments from such sources as badastronomy.com which amounted to declaring we were wrong because... everyone should know it's just not that way...
Viewzone understands that our readers are not idiots and can decide for themselves if certain theories or interpretations are worthy of consideration. A majority of the feedback we received was positive. As always, we will continue to report new ideas and let you use your own intellect, intuition and common sense. Thanks.

UPDATE: MARCH 2010

New 'Alien Invader' Star Clusters Found in Milky Way

ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2010) As many as one quarter of the star clusters in our Milky Way -- many more than previously thought -- are invaders from other galaxies, according to a new study. The report also suggests there may be as many as six dwarf galaxies yet to be discovered within the Milky Way rather than the two that were previously confirmed.

"Some of the stars and star clusters you see when you look into space at night are aliens from another galaxy, just not the green-skinned type you find in a Hollywood movie. These 'alien' star clusters that have made their way into our galaxy over the last few billion years," says Terry Bridges, an astronomer at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.

The study (co-authored by Duncan Forbes of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia) has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Previously, astronomers had suspected that some star clusters, which contain from 100,000 to a million stars each, were foreign to our galaxy, but it was difficult to identify which ones.

Using mostly Hubble Space Telescope data, Mr. Bridges and Mr. Forbes examined old star clusters within the Milky Way galaxy. From the research they compiled the largest ever high-quality database to record the age and chemical properties of each of these clusters.

"We looked at all the data we could find. The best data are from the Hubble Telescope because it has the best imaging," Bridges says. "We looked at the ages and the amounts of heavy elements in these clusters, which can be measured from their stars."

The researchers' work also suggests that the Milky Way may have swallowed-up more dwarf galaxies than was previously thought. They found that many of the foreign clusters originally existed within dwarf galaxies -- 'mini' galaxies of up to 100 million stars that sit within our larger Milky Way. The study suggests that there are more of these accreted dwarf galaxies in our Milky Way than was thought.

Dan Eden

SOURCE: Viewzone Milky Way

Editor's Notes:

#5. This statement about the gases from IO to Jupiter came from here, The Millenium Group. It is copied all over the web. The article is written by Alexei N. Dmitriev who also is involved in SETI. (See Towards Lunar Archaeology- SETI). Z.I.Vselennaya is not the name of an author as it seems on looking at the references. "Zemlya i Vselennaya" is the phonetic translation of the Russian "Земля и Вселенная" which is the name of the Magazine "Earth and Universe" printed in Russian. The only reference found so far about this IO/Jupiter gas event is in this repeated article. We have not yet traced the original Data to the Russian periodical so far. The issue is Vol No. 3 1997. However... using different search parameters we did get the story. See Below

Rings Around the Galaxy

Three newly-discovered streams arcing high over the Milky Way Galaxy are remnants of cannibalized galaxies and star clusters. The streams are between 13,000 and 130,000 light-years distant from Earth and extend over much of the northern sky.

Two of the newly discovered streams are almost certainly the remains of ancient star clusters. Known to astronomers as globular clusters, these giant stellar cities contain between tens of thousands and millions of stars. Though only about 150 globular clusters orbit the Milky Way today, they may once have numbered in the thousands.

Over billions of years, the relentless gravitational stresses inflicted on them by our galaxy have slowly torn them apart, leaving behind long, thin streams of stars. Once crowded so closely together that they could sometimes actually collide, these stars are now separated by many light-years, trailing one another at half a million miles an hour through the dark and lonely reaches of the galactic halo.

The third stream is spread over a much larger region of the sky, and is most likely the scattered remains of a dwarf galaxy. Such dwarf galaxies may contain up to 100 million stars, along with sometimes substantial amounts of mysterious "dark matter." While the Milky Way galaxy currently hosts a family of 20 or so known dwarf galaxies, scientists who study the growth of galaxies in the early universe have long been puzzled as to why we don't see hundreds of them.

SOURCE: Rings Around the Galaxy - Spitzer Space Telescope - NASA