The Astrology of Space - Matrix Software

The Astrology of Space
centimeters was detected. Using radio astronomy, the
first detailed map of the spiral-arm structure of our
galaxy was produced. (see above diagram) The gas
is concentrated in the spiral-arms.
Dark Nebulae
If there are no stars in or near the nebulosity, the
nebula will obscure or block all light beyond or behind
itself. The result are dark patches or "holes" in the
sky. The most celebrated dark nebula is the Coal
Sack in the Southern Cross.
Dark Clouds and Interstellar Dust
Until the 20th century, astronomers assumed that the
immense distance between stars was empty, in effect
a perfect vacuum. Numerous dark patches were
thought to be some sort of "holes in space" where
there were no stars. A few of these dark areas are
visible to the naked eye, in particular the "Coal Sack"
near the Southern Cross and the "Great Rift" in the
Milky Way. The Great Rift splits the luminous
background from Cygnus to Sagittarius through a
succession of large overlapping dark clouds in the
equatorial plane of the galaxy. It has been discovered
that these "holes in the stars" are in fact obscuring
clouds of small grains of matter, dust. Like cigarette
smoke, this dust diffuses the light coming from behind
them. There is no essential difference between a
bright nebula and a dark one; it all depends on
whether there are any suitable stars to provide
illumination.
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