“The Milky Way is not as young as it looks”

Last updated on: February 25, 2015 at 5:31 pm by Dan Peterson

Mark Garlick does the Milky Way — A scientifically informed artist’s depiction, by Mark Garlick, of the Milky Way galaxy, as certain of my critics might view it from their apparent position somewhere out in space
(Click to enlarge.)

A nice little article in the 21 February 2015 issue of the Economist is entitled “A galactic vampire”:

Our galaxy seems to be somewhat more than thirteen billion years old, which makes it not much younger than the universe itself. How does the Milky Way retain its youthful good looks? Why, the same way that I do: It sucks the lifeblood of others!

The article is a quick read. For some reason, though, the direct link to it has proven unstable. I read it in hard copy (I’m a subscriber), but perhaps you can reach it this way:

http://www.realclearscience.com/2015/02/24/the_milky_way_is_a_galactic_vampire_263490.html