Size of the Milky Way and the Sun's off-center position
Tamaño de la Vía Láctea y posición excéntrica del Sol
- Date
- 1918 · confidence high
- Place
- Mount Wilson Observatory, California, United States
- Credited to
- Harlow Shapley
- People
- 👤 Harlow Shapley1885–1972
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Using globular clusters and Cepheids, Shapley showed that the Galaxy is enormous and that the Sun lies far from its centre, towards Sagittarius. It displaced the Sun from the centre of the known universe.
Shapley overestimated the size by ignoring interstellar extinction.
What it led to
- Great Debate of 1920
- The galactic centre as an object of study
- Galactic structure