Myth vs Reality: Visiting Galaxies

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 This short video addresses the misconception that we can study galaxies by visiting them.

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach
 
All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:
 
·       Milky Way panorama courtesy of ESO/S. Brunier
·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
·       Andromeda Galaxy image courtesy of Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF
·       Redshift animation courtesy of ESO
·       Centaurus A visible-light images courtesy of ESO
 
 
Written by Tracy Vogel
Designed by Marc Lussier
Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

(SPEECH)
[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]
 
(DESCRIPTION)
Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of a galaxy.
 
Text, MYTH versus REALITY
 
Myth side
 
Text, We can study other galaxies by visiting them.
 
Reality side
 
Text, Other galaxies are too far away to visit. Even if you could travel at the speed of light, it would take millions to billions of years to reach most other galaxies. The closest galaxies to our own Milky Way are dwarf galaxies thousands of light-years away. We study other galaxies from afar, using powerful space telescopes like Hubble, Chandra,  and Webb.