Dwarf Galaxies and Dense Dwarf Planets ~ 27 June 2007

No doubt you’ve been subject to one of the countless e-mails/forwards regarding SagDEG - the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, not to be confused during Mercury retrograde with SagDIG, the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy. More on that next paragraph, but first the set up for reaction to all this might actually come from the recent assessment of the Dwarf Planet, Eris. Recent observations offer that Eris is 27% more massive than Pluto. Mass = weight = gravitational pull = influence that feels like Saturn’s immutable laws. Blah. Given density measurements, it is perceived that Eris and 2003 EL61 have a similar composition to Pluto: rock and ice. I’m wondering about the heaviness of everything described by so many folks these days. There have been discussions of immovable forces, infinite inertia and a glacial or constitutional slowness to arenas of progress. Coincidence? I have no idea. But what we do know is that Eris and her influences are almost a third again as potent of those of Pluto. To line her up with something hopefully useful, work to assess those forces of life that pull a person into performance, status scenarios that may be inconsistent with a person’s true view of what matters. Work to shed attachments to anything that does not further. If it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. If it does, get onboard and steer an economical course to the required and fully intended destination.

Anyway, there’s all this stuff about how the galaxy SagDEG is coming to get us. It’s going to absorb us, heat up our Sun and is responsible for a slew of planetary anomalies. Let’s go for perspective here. First, the e-mail circulating does report basic facts in the first half. Then, they go speculative and assign conclusions that do not exist on the websites of the astronomers cited.

SagDEG is one of the galaxies in our local group - about thirty galaxies all being drawn to the core of the Virgo supercluster, which lies at about two degrees of Libra. Why two abouts in one sentence? In these vast galactic orientations, nothing known is exact and given what’s happening out there, defining details do not change things and those details cannot be determined anyway. Here’s a basic breakdown:

 

Our Sun orbits the Galactic Center once every 240 million years (or thereabouts). We are being consumed by the black hole in the core of the galaxy. Will our Sun deplete before this happens? No one knows. When will this occur? No one knows, but certainly you’ll likely incarnate four score more times before it does.

 

SagDEG is now apparently interacting with the Milky Way. The pure physics of the matter is that this “dwarf” galaxy ultimately will succumb to the Milky Way’s influence, not the other way around. When this cannibalistic process occurs, you can bet the atmosphere shall heat up to millions of degrees. When will this happen? Certainly not before the 2060 earliest possible End of the World Scenario worked out by Newton and noted in the last Galactic Times.

 

Our local group of galaxies will be consumed by the supermassive black hole in the core of local group of galaxies. Date and time unknown, but not in this lifetime.

 

Our entire local group of galaxies and a galactic boat load of other stuff “streams” toward the Great Attractor - roughly 14 of Sag. The prognosis for this is undetermined and time line immeasurable.

As far as SagDEG and what will happen, all speculations are that: speculations. No one has the definitive answer of what this means and what’s going to go down. Does it affect where we came from? No. Does it explain galactic tilt? Nah. Is it already interacting with us? Yes or no, depending upon what other circumstantial data one chooses to cite. Discovered in 1994 and reclassified in 2003 (the discovery year of Eris), it was once perceived to be the closest external (but working on becoming internal) galaxy until the discovery of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.

This galaxy resides at 11 Capricorn 56, about a third of the way into the resource conscious cosmic goat. While blowing out the theories of energetic interactions between our galaxy and others and revealing added insight on the concept of energetic cannibalism, it is not responsible for global warming. I’d like to review the fossil fuel orientation, profit margin attitudes and political slants of those suggesting such notions. While it may be true that increasing proximity of another galaxy amps up the temperature of another, if we were that close we probably wouldn’t have much of a chance for discussion as investments in ice would heat up. For now, I’m going to stick with the theory that all the crap and byproducts of progress are responsible for global warming. I’m not quite ready to assign a cosmic pardon to the irresponsibility of industry. If you’re still not sure, I can take you on a tour of my hometown where the results of progress toxified the city in some places to more than a hundred times greater that federal standards permit and have placed an ugly blemish on the atmosphere of Earth.

One other note. The cool energy pictures inserted in the e-mail are the entire galactic spectrum, not focused on the relevance of the article. While such images appear to add credibility, it’s bit of a distraction. If you want something really simple, check out Wikipedia on this galactic point. It ain’t bad at all. It’s got the Dragnet approach done pat: Just the facts.

So what is the perspective to take home from SagDEG (in some technical queries you may need to search: Sgr dSph)? I think it’s too early to actually know. I am reminded of the remora and shark, though. Is there any hope of a galactic symbiosis forming or will it be entirely cannibalistic? Given that we are millions of years away from the full impact of this interaction, does it serve us to contemplate the inevitability of nature’s cosmic course, or is this more fear mongering? If such contemplations are purposeful, then perhaps it’s time to do as Eris suggests. Evaluate what really matters. Restore quality of life. Enjoy the moments as if each contained an eternity of evolution. If all that fails, there’s always the ability to worry about that which cannot be controlled.

I’m going for the useful metaphor. I’m a light year short of finding it, but if I get any ideas, I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, it certainly has been a year of pesky gravitationally annoying cosmic dwarfs, hasn’t it?

It’s occurred to me that a generally broader picture of galactic phenomena might help sort out such sorted details. Given that tomorrow at 11:35 A.M. my time (it’s Mercury retrograde; I can’t possibly convert that to other time zones) Mercury and the Earth align, marking the apex of Mercury retrograde, I’ve decided to do an experiment. Truly, on this day progress in matters Mercurial can be made. In fact, I’ve found the Mercury-Earth alignment to be a satisfying and successful communication day. Pick up things that have dropped through the cracks. Put out pitches. Follow up. Write your credit bureau to sort out things they have wrong and make sure your bank information is impeccably correct. If you decide to change passwords, remember to write them down and make your secret stash of encryption codes somewhere you’ll be able to recall.