How Did the Milky Way Get Its Spiral?

[@Weirdoid]

Many galaxies have a bar in the middle. It is the space bar.

[@jonslg240]

🤣 here's a cob for you good sir

[@jefmatttab]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Stimm002]

🤣😂🤣😂

[@Deathbrecht]

🤣😁😆

[@omega311888]

lmao. thanks! i needed the laugh!

[@Mellowbaton]

It's spiral energy man

[@jaywaii3187]

ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWA!

[@Xaiff]

I still miss Lord Genome sometimes. 😭😭

[@vighneshkannan7896]

@@Xaiff i miss kamina

[@DIOsNotDead]

those simulation animations are pretty satisfying, especially the third one

[@Paul_Ch52]

How did she get her spiral? Girl's not just a beauty. She's got class. On a most elegant waltz through the universe. Cue The Blue Danube.

[@redpsycho90]

A galactic traffic jam? I don’t want to go to work during that peak hour! “Hey boss, ill be a few million years late”

[@nawtmyrealnamelol]

this seems like a pretty big part of reality to say "lol idk they're just spiraled i guess we'll figure it out at some point". This is why i love science, it's pretty much just looking at our existence and going WTF IS GOING ON

[@plate_fox]

We don’t then know most of what we don’t know

[@NortheastGamer]

@Science Revolution Luckily there's a lot of space between the 'trees' which allows us to see pretty far away ;)

[@NortheastGamer]

@Science Revolution I don't think I understand what you're trying to prove exactly but we can see enough to get a pretty good sample size of the world and make some interesting observations on that.

[@UGNAvalon]

@Science Revolution - Your comparison is massively flawed. We’re not seeing _our_ while woods from inside our woods, we’re seeing _other_ woods from inside our woods. And as previous comments mentioned, we’re talking massive interstellar distances, not densely-packed tree canopies, giving us plenty of room to see outside “our woods”. Plus, most forests are along the same horizontal plane, whereas most galaxies we observe are “above” or “below our local galaxy’s plane of rotation.

[@KentoLeoDragon]

Cool. Spiral arms are one my favorite astronomical things I don't understand but wish I did.

[@RyanDB]

Glad to see that I'm not the only one who couldn't stop thinking about Gurren Lagann all through this video XD

[@kb470]

Of course! Just who the hell do you think we are?

[@Malphirzar]

My drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens Tengen toppa gurren lagenn

[@KokLiangLim]

"My drill is the drill...that creates the heavens!!!" - Simon

[@maximus__3279]

i thought to myself surely there would be a reference an sure enough i find a man of culture

[@korvette21]

wow, this sounds to me like the opposite of what Dr Becky said last week. At least with regards to star formation. The paper she referred to checked the ages of the stars in front of the wave with those behind the wave, but they didn't find any difference.

[@moose43h]

Junji ito has entered the chat

[@WetDoggo]

A possibility of where these arms even come from is: Galaxies could be left over from the explosion of huge proto stars. This would also explain why there's a supermassive black hole in the center of those galaxies.

[@WetDoggo]

The collapsing bubble would leave fluxuations in density

[@slothytoves]

SciShow Space you are my density.

[@DaranDragon]

Just ask Gurren Lagann.... duh! ;)

[@therongjr]

The animations in this video helped a lot! Whatever the reason for spiral-shaped galaxies, somehow I can imagine a cause would be fairly easily understandable . . . but the bars in barred spirals just confuse the heck out of me!

[@rillloudmother]

Using the CT turnpike as a model, I can attest that traffic often occurs for no reason at all...

[@waitotong9590]

I watched a video about the same matter from Astrum yesterday and now SciShow Space too!

[@bingbong8968]

My best guess is that the middle of the galaxy or the bar rotates in one direction and the arms rotate in the opposite direction and both rotate at different speeds

[@vellapb1812]

No matter how many mystery of the space we solve there still be many more to solve. Never ending !!

[@skz5k2]

Really nice video. An information more. There two type of spiral arms: Grand design ones (like the one of Whirlpool Galaxy, big and well defined) and smaller ones. The density wave theory (and this video) is referred to Grand design spiral arms (like our Perseus or Sagittarius arms), that can be trailing (if they seems stay behind) or leading. Smaller (like our Orion arm, literally ours: we are inside) could be formed by huge conglomerate of stars/gas disrupted by differential rotation (winding effect) About Grand design arms, see this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5rZZ5Rud7uthqc

[@ReuInuzuka]

Don't mind me, just going to go rewatch Gurren Lagann now.

[@Amadrath]

I think, something else could contribute to the spiral arms. As the gas density is higher in the spiral arms, not only are more stars born, but also heavier stars. Heavy stars burn brighter and live shorter, so that they might never leave the spiral arm within their lifetime.

[@shobhnasharma3602]

Very helpful and interesting information

[@scotthall2723]

One of the prevailing theories causing the spiral density changes is the "galactic sheet", an electromagnetic current pulse eminating from the center and radiating outward, but bent into a spiral by the galaxy's rotation. Our own sun has a similar current sheet that effects its planets in an interaction called solar forcing. Note that as our solar system passes through the galactic current sheet, it causes micronova bursts in a 12000 year cycle that has induced ice ages and magnetic reversals on our own planet. We have recently seen the effects of the galactic current sheet on our nearest neighbor stars, and are just starting to see the effect on our own sun as we see coronal suspendence of filaments from sunspots in the new sunspot cycle just getting underway.

[@geraldmerkowitz4360]

2:08 this just broke my brain

[@blueberryadept6519]

Gravity and momentum. I look at the arms as high density and thus higher mass. As stars leave the centre, they're flung out but then slow near the mid point between the centre and arm. Then, as they approach the arm, they begin to accelerate towards it because its higher mass than the surrounding area while also carrying momentum from being flung out. As stars pass through the arms, they are again relying on their momentum to carry them into the outer reaches of the galaxy where they will be slowed by the gravity of the centre and arms and eventually pulled back into the mix.

[@duckgoesquack4514]

Uzumaki has entered chat

[@TBomb15]

obscure manga reference right there.

[@wmdkitty]

~twitch~

[@jorgepeterbarton]

i found the comment i was going to write

[@LEDewey_MD]

Great video! I’m sure that plans are in the works to use one of those super computers used to simulate the evolution of the entire universe. This could obviously model how these kind of galaxies form. Dark matter probably plays a role too.

[@rmdodsonbills]

Traffic jams don't happen for no reason. You may not see the cause by the time you get to the other end of the density wave, but that only means that the wave outlasted the cause. Traffic jams start because of a triggering event; somebody cut someone else off, making them hit the brakes that caused a chain reaction or similar events that cause a cascade but otherwise don't have any lasting consequences. It's kind of like a small seed crystal in a super-saturated solution causing a cascade of crystal formation by providing a nucleation site.

[@ttrestle]

Great vid!!

[@kiloalphahotel5354]

Thanks for the vid. Always great.

[@ped-away-g1396]

spiral galaxies are the chillest type of galaxy because they have a bar in the center.

[@xvbd6067]

a more interesting convo is how do we know that its spiral, the evidence, debates, and how we concluded them

[@rajendrakhanvilkar9362]

Great video

[@fernandor3854]

Maybe, just maybe, we are seeing the wave function of the gravitational waves being generated by the black hole (holes) in the center. Kinda like one of those flame wave things that visualise the wave of the music you put through it.

[@sobertillnoon]

Distant Spiral is my Mystic Spiral coverband.

[@Zanarthis]

Hank: Science. Science science. Me, quietly: *ROW ROW, FIGHT DA POWAH!*

[@itarry4]

Hank: Science, science, science Me: Wow a bar at the centre of the Galaxy, wonder what the drinks are like there?

[@TotalGAMIX]

Why am I only seeing this channel now🤩🤩🤩

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Elliptical galaxies are just spiral galaxies without the dust and gas. The arms aren't even necessarily denser with stars. All we can say for certain is that they are regions with more gas and dust floating in space.

[@sgtwolf1870]

But if our arm of the galaxy is just a density wave, has our Star ever not been in an arm? And if so when was that?

[@kagannasuhbeyoglu]

Great content👍

[@davidprodigy5833]

I am very interested in this content. Thank you indeed.

[@OGSontar]

Naw, the bar is the handle used to wind the galaxy up initially. Once they've completely unwound, it's how it gets rewound. Spinning wheel, got to go round...

[@illmf]

Finally!!! I've had so many questions

[@theMosen]

Me too, but they weren't really answered.

[@skz5k2]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5rZZ5Rud7uthqc more details

[@raygun26]

Take my word for it...I’ve seen it

[@abyssal_phoenix]

2:03 this is almost hypnotic looking haha

[@hikingpete]

Huh. Winding problem. It's so obvious when you say it, but it had never crossed my mind. Density Waves really do jump to mind, but (as you explain), how do we test this and what causes them? Neat topic!

[@pinusniron8935]

Wow so cool Great 👍👍👍👍

[@malaki_moose]

There's a Junji Ito joke to be made here

[@catman8965]

Density Waves...I haven't heard that since 1978.

[@djgene5621]

Similar to tropical storms, I think the arms are created by galactic collisions and warping of spacetime.

[@HenriqueOz]

What are the bars at the center of the galaxies??

[@alexandertownsend3291]

It is still a mystery.

[@TueSorensen]

An idea! Could the density waves be caused - directly or indirectly - by jets coming out of the central black hole?

[@iggyrlk]

Time is different based on where you are. Gravity plays a part on time, so does speed. In one way or another time is a definite part of what is at play here. Still wondering everything else that is involved here. We can't just throw away our concept of time is based solely on Earth's rotation and revolutions around the sun. But, if time can be and is different in different situations then surely time is a factor in the creation of these spirals. Isn't that obvious? Probably not the only aspect at play here. Thoughts? Thinking harder on this.

[@huldu]

When you look at one of those galaxies it really makes you realize how insignificant mankind and Earth really is. We're not even a tiny dot on the galactic scale.

[@NortheastGamer]

Sometimes I like to take a walk. When I get home I get on my laptop and look at how far I walked on Google maps until I can associate the distance on my screen with the feeling of walking it. Then I zoom out. The sheer size of even my neighborhood becomes real to me, then my city, then my state...and on and on and on until I am overwhelmed with the giant crushing Earth. It's fun to know that even the largest distance I've felt while doing that is once again a short walk in comparison to the face of our sun, which is also a short walk on the face of even larger stars. And all of those are grains of sand in the playpit of a galaxy, which are themselves tiny parts of clusters. Just....damn.

[@fivish]

Most galaxies have only rotates a few times since their creation. However there are galaxies that are 150 billion years old which negate my previous point!

[@Curas1]

Has anyone else found themselves ' magically' subscribed to scishow ? I watch these videos half the time but I swear I never hit that button.

[@sylvestersstudio9403]

@stronghank simply did a little spin in the first spiral Galaxy and the force spun it into shape. The other Galaxies thought it was fashionable and followed suit

[@lukaslukas6267]

Think that the black hole is responcible, like the way when you pull a plug in a song an when liquid start to swirl around, the similar stuff is happening here.

[@barneyrubble4293]

wouldn't the waves be coming from the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies? Maybe a pair of binary black holes orbiting each other? Maybe some kind of ripple/wake effect from the center of the galaxies distorting spacetime as they are moving through space?

[@splifsend]

A new paper was released just a few days ago have proven that the outer edge is moving fast, and not the centre.

[@LaibaStarXX]

Everything orbits! The nature and everything is connected.✨

[@zaczane]

Hypothesis The Magnetic poles of the Supermassive black hole(s) that's at the center of the galaxy somehow amplify each other, producing massive electromagnetic fluctuations, which in turn create the Gravitational waves that make the bars. Would love to discuss and here any feed back people have for the idea

[@madn93]

Could the Black holes - or hole (sagittarius A for us) cause the spiral due to their spin and pull? Like a sinkhole effect? Another question is does the shape of the galaxy affect the mechanisms and physics within them? Just curious. And thank you!

[@bengoodwin2141]

It can cause a spiral but it's way too small compared to the rest of the galaxy to cause all of it.

[@madn93]

@@bengoodwin2141 could that then be imposed by systems and dark matter within the galaxy? Systems and stars using gravity pulling each other perhaps

[@bengoodwin2141]

@@madn93 if these things occuring "randomly" is the explanation then that's basically the same as the interactions between stars (the planets around then are usually negligible) causing it. These interactions are so complex that they're effectively random, but result in a few patterns like the swirling effect.

[@itarry4]

A Bar at the centre of our Galaxy? What's it called, how do I get there and do they serve Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters? Anyone else think of Vogons, hyperspace bypasses, Don't Panic and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy when they hear the words "Siral Arm of the Galaxy? Oh and I know why the Spiral arms don't collapse, it's easy. Physics. There problem solved now let's get back to designing those flying cars and hover boards like we were told we'd have by now. That or a big space ship to get us to the planning office on Beetlejuice. 👀👀

[@osmosisjones4912]

I thought the stars were just orbiting the central black hole

[@Mmouse_]

Don't swirls form around a plug hole when you drain the bath? Isn't a super massive black hole the space time equivilant of a plug hole (more or less)?

[@bennym8218]

Maybe the extra mass of the stars in the arm ripple spacetime and cause a backup that way.

[@JeffMoody]

The arms are masses of plasma. Plasma behaves the same on the microscopic scale as it does on the galactic, or even universal scale. When 2 masses of plasma are collided together in controlled environments they form the same bar spiral formation. A year or two ago when Voyager 2 left the solar system it encountered a wall of plasma. Even the strands along which galaxies collect are the same strand patterns that can be observed in under powered fluorescent light bulbs. In the late 80's or 90's Harvard Research Institute twice reviewed research on these theories and found them legitimately plausible.

[@jehmarxx]

Our traffic jams only happen when there are traffic enforcers around.

[@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132]

does the shape of the spiral structure also indicate the shape of the orbits of some of the stars ?? in the ilustration at 2:40 they showed pretty eliptical orbits but by lining up less eliptical orbits you will end up with more tightly wound spiral . whitch is pretty interesting

[@tim40gabby25]

Had anyone looked at the aggregations of many humans trying to walk in circles around an attracting central object - I'm thinking of images of the Hajj - where one sees pulsing patterns reminiscent of spiral Galaxies. A lateral thought from an old UK duffer :)

[@1MarkKeller]

One would think there is information to be had on the arms in observing water going down a drain.

[@PronatorTendon]

Some part of me wants it to be gravitational distortion from supermassive black holes

[@ObviouslyBenHughes]

Came here hoping for a subtle turtles all the way down reference. 🐢🌀

[@JonathanAdami]

could it be that galaxies form when 2 stars rotate into a blackhole (black holes being at the center of galaxies) and that the waves would just be gravitational waves at the beginning? just connecting many things I don't understand here haha

[@Frezzed]

Ask the Spiral King?

[@VaguelyCanadian]

So is there a reason the density wave can't be a result of spacetime iteslf being warped in the presence of the supermassive black hole at the center? I'm not exactly well-versed in astrophysics but we do know spacetime is warped by gravity and spinning black holes in particular of all sizes produce a very similar effect that we've already observed. So am I missing something here?

[@Epicmonk117]

Somewhat related to your sponsor, but have you done any videos about Dyson spheres?

[@osmia]

There's this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faOwZJltd86fa6M

[@mindseyeview7411]

I like that it's called the Milky Way, reminds me of the life milk a mother provides 💖 The spiral shape also feels maternal, like a cosmic breast 🌌💖

[@militantpacifist4087]

With a giant space blender.

[@brucetutty9984]

they're the vortexes formed by interconnection of cold gas streams.

[@thetommantom]

I have a feeling if it didn't spin everything would fly directly into each other instead of "slowly" coalescing into bigger clumps

[@Chris_da_fro]

Space bars, sounds like an excellent place to mingle

[@scottanderson8167]

Space gorillas swirled it around with their humongous, gentle and powerful stubby fingers

[@YCCCm7]

And the the zookeepers shot them with their laser guns because one of their nebulas went missing.

[@scottanderson8167]

@@YCCCm7 it's a little-known fact that Gorilla Glue is made out of the fingernails of long-dead space gorillas.

[@Aliasbaba41]

Could the collision of two irregular galaxies result in a spiral galaxy? If they don't hit each other head on, they would spiral around each other anyway. And compression waves galore in a collision anyway

[@primordial-zeitgeist]

gravitational w/ quantum forces perhaps ?

[@astronomy-channel]

Dark Matter coherently spinning is the KEY!

[@prestorock23]

Galaxies rotate, and they also move through space. Maybe the spirals have something to do with the way galaxies « roll » through space ?

[@JonathanACarr]

Maybe it is gravity between stars over billions of years pulling them towards each other as they move around the core, leading to the spiral arms.

[@NaihanchinKempo]

The super massive black holes not spinning as fast

[@Im_a_Bananatree]

Because it can, BOOM problem solved😎

[@mikebar42]

Do they all move same direction? Also it's probably something to do with expansion. Also.dont we have computers to see what the.stars looked like in the past?... And if correct stars are moving away... Sorry 4 the.questions.. I'm an idiot so I need answers

[@fnumbuh]

How do we know the Milky Ways shape we are inside it

[@DEADisBEAUTIFUL]

My mother-in-law has this same winding problem. She gets going on one subject and she circles around it over and over and over again. Her brain seems to move at a different speed than her arms. The result is mass stupidity.

[@dritemolawzbks8574]

Give her some speed, and that will bring you guys closer.

[@islandmaster5064]

How about the spirals form when 2 galaxies collide? The dance would create the difference in densities while the natural spin slowly spread the gas out.

[@SuperPickle15]

Collided galaxies form an elliptical galaxy

[@islandmaster5064]

@@SuperPickle15 do we know that for sure? After all those galaxies are the oldest and have had time to spread out its density

[@SuperPickle15]

@@islandmaster5064 no, but elliptical galaxies are much more rare. Almost like they form after rare galatical collisions. Oh and the simulations.

[@islandmaster5064]

@@SuperPickle15 I see your point but a counter argument that I have is that spiral galaxies have been increasing as the universe gets older while the elliptical galaxies seem to get more and more rare. Wouldn't it make sense that spiral galaxies are the result of elliptical merging thereby reducing the number of ellipticals an increase in the number of spiral galaxies? In the night sky in the most recent past 3/4 are spiral. There once upon a time they were extremely few.

[@SuperPickle15]

@@islandmaster5064 spirals are rare in center of Galaxies cluster centers. Ellipticals also are much bigger than spirals. Because spirals are further outer, they are unlikely to ever collide with a another galaxy to disrupt the spiral. Also spirals are mostly flat as if they formed from a disc of gases like the solar system. Ellipticals are more sphere shape in 3d space. So not not only you need the arms to form, you need the stars to collect in a 2d plane.

[@calebr7199]

Spiral Power.

[@SebastianTorres22]

Could it be that spiral galaxies are 6000 years old?

[@raiderguard5777]

Ah yes, my favorite galaxy shape, "Credits:"

[@TURBOMIKEIFY]

Okay, so Density Wave Theory is pretty much suggesting that the arms are rubber bands and get tugged around? I Wikipedia’d it and I couldn’t fathom what I was reading. Made zero sense.

[@PoleTooke]

I mean... Black holes on opposite sides making it go into a spiral and then they just fling far away into interstellar and the arms are the ones being born. Every galaxy would someday die as everything becomes rogue as the gas runs out and we all drift apart

[@subnatural5341]

An A-type star, a G-type star and an M-type star walked into a galactic bar...