(NASA/XRAY: LXL/JPL/CalTech/Sokulkani et al. Optical: STSCI/UIUC/Y. H. Chu and R. Williams et al. IR: R. Gehrz)
OUR empire has struck back. Last year, astronomers got a shock when it emerged that our galaxy’s brightest companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), appeared to be speeding through space so fast that we wouldn’t be able to hold onto it (New Scientist, 13 January 2007, p 13). Now two new measurements suggest the Milky Way will manage to keep its companion after all.
The first shows our galaxy to be spinning faster than we had thought. A star near the sun on…
