SPACE.com reports that a University of Pittsburgh scientist worked on a study concluding that the Milky Way is white, a feature that tells astronomers a lot about the galaxy's history.
The scientists relied on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which measured the detailed properties of nearly a million galaxies, collecting color images of about a quarter of the sky. They focused on the hundreds of galaxies that were similar to the Milky Way in terms of their total amount of stars and the rate at which they are creating new stars, both related to the brightness and color of a galaxy.
They found on average, the best match for the Milky Way's color was "fine-grained new spring snow seen in the early morning light, about an hour after dawn," (Pitt scientist Jeffrey) Newman told SPACE.com. "If you were outside the Milky Way, it'd look white to you. The Milky Way has a very appropriate name."
Newman composed a haiku for the discovery. "Look at new spring snow; see the river of heaven; an hour after dawn," he recited.
Original source: SPACE.com
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