Studying the Milky Way in the Early 1900s - Assignment Example

In his assumptions, Shapley believed that all the globular were of the same size. Later, he established that the sun was 50000 light-years from the center (Melia 31).

            On the other hand, Curtis agreed with Shapley's findings that the globular clusters were not in the galaxy. However, he disagreed with his estimations of their distances. In Curtis's opinion, these clusters were closed while the galaxy was smaller. Further, Curtis believed that the galaxy was a vast collection of stars situated way from the boundary of the Milky Way (Melia 29). Therefore, despite the two agreeing and disagreeing on some facts, they both had a common idea that the galaxy was in the universe, something they argued out based on the position of the globular cluster in the Milky Way. And, if this was the case, which is not, then it could be concluded that the galaxy is the entire universe.

            In 1935, Andrew McKellar was in the astrophysical observation team during which, he involved himself in astrophysics research. It was then that he used the CN excitation doublet lines in 1941 to measure and determined the effective temperature of space to be 2.3 K. Around that period he establish this important discovery that could have earned him a Nobel prize, but the world was at war-world war two (WW II). Therefore, Andrew McKellar never had time to publish his findings. Again, scientist gathering to deliberate on this research was not possible. After WW II, the world recovered, but at a sluggish rate. In 1952 when the astronomers had their first meeting in Rome, Andrew McKellar's file had been forgotten (Naselʹskij, Dmitry and Igor 4-7). Read More