←back to thread

James Webb Space Telescope reveals that most galaxies rotate clockwise

(www.smithsonianmag.com)
352 points instagraham | 1 comments | 31 Mar 25 10:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.247s | source
Show context
worldsayshi ◴[31 Mar 25 11:02 UTC] No.43533522[source]▶
Clockwise relative to what? Does the universe have an "upwards" direction?

Or is it just relative to all the other galaxies?

replies(3): >>43533588 #>>43533599 #>>43534069 #
andrewaylett ◴[31 Mar 25 11:11 UTC] No.43533588[source]▶
Clockwise relative to our viewpoint, while we would expect that we'd see an equal number rotating in either direction no matter which way we looked or where we were looking from.
replies(4): >>43533651 #>>43533718 #>>43535830 #>>43539189 #
worldsayshi ◴[31 Mar 25 11:29 UTC] No.43533718[source]▶
> relative to our viewpoint

That would seem way more surprising than relative to a arbitrarily selected common upwards direction and it would imply that we are somehow at the center/top of the universe.

replies(1): >>43533977 #
deepsun ◴[31 Mar 25 12:04 UTC] No.43533977[source]▶
You are correct, we are indeed at the center of the universe.

Hence the farther we observe stuff, the earlier in time it happens. And if an observer moves to a different location, they will still be at the center of the universe (aka light cone).

replies(1): >>43534967 #
1. worldsayshi ◴[31 Mar 25 13:42 UTC] No.43534967[source]▶
> And if an observer moves to a different location, they will still be at the center of the universe (aka light cone).

That doesn't make sense for this particular context though. The direction of "up" of another galaxy doesn't change depending on where you are as an observer...

Then again, it's only two-thirds of the galaxies that have "up" facing us - which isn't that surprising. If something like 99% of their "up" was facing us it would seem more special.