The galactic bar scene

[dianeduane]

PASADENA, Calif.--Bars abound in spiral galaxies today, but this was not always the case. A group of 16 astronomers, led by Kartik Sheth of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, has found that bars tripled in number over the past seven billion years…

So what’s the cause? Gentrification, or looser liquor licensing laws?    You decide.

(with a tip of the hat to The Quantum Pontiff)

Tags: galaxies, bars, spirals, barred+spiral, CalTech, Spitzer+Science+Center, California+Institute+of+Technology

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

"The formation of a bar may be the final important act in the evolution of a spiral galaxy"

It's certainly a very important feature of the evolution of intelligence. "I drink, therefore I am." [FX: Sips Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster while eating a Milky Way bar...]

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Ah, but how many of these bars actually serve Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters? :-) (Yeah, I know, that's what the Guide is for...)

[eleika.livejournal.com]

I'd make a scientific joke based on the word Temperance, but my brain is too foggy right now. :P

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
Does you planet have a bar?