Expert: Ed - 12/28/2011

Question
Hi Ed,
I need some help making a list of 10 interesting things that can be found in the Milky Way Galaxy. The list can include different star varieties, nebulae, planets, black holes, etc. I'd appreciate it if the list had some variety to it. I also need it to be made up of things that can be easy to do some research on. If you could give me your own list, that'd be great. Hope I'm not asking you for too much. Answer me when you can.
Thanks!

Answer
Mary, hello!  i hope I am in time to help.

OK, ten interesting things.  I have to go out for New Years Eve soon, but I will come up with as many as I can quickly, and then if you want more, you can get back to me tomorrow, and I will be able to help more, and more quickly, then.

OK, just anything that is interesting... how about this planet, which is actually a visitor from another galaxy:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/11/exoplanet-different-galaxy/

Or, the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_uPcRV5hE
http://www.science20.com/news_articles/milky_ways_central_black_hole_slowly_rips

I don't know if you will think this next one is cool, but it blows my mind.  There are green and purple stars in our galaxy.  In fact, the sun is pretty green.  The problem is, human eyes aren't really built to see stellar radiation in this way.  We see green stars as yellow, or blue, and we see purple stars as reddish, or blue-ish.  So, that is an interesting type of star in the Milky Way galaxy.
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=14

This is debatable, but maybe you could say "Life on other planets."  Astronomers are finding more planets all the time, revolving around stars in the Milky Way.  They have already found hundreds, and they have only known HOW to look, for a few years now.  Some astronomers think there are billions of other planets in the Milky Way.  Maybe tens of billions.  And every one of them has its own complex chemical composition.  People who say that there is no way any of them have life sound more and more stupid, every year, as we get more and more data.  They will sound even more stupid, with every year that passes, in the future.  Probably within our lifetime, scientists will be very seriously debating whether there are millions of planets in the Milky Way with life on them, or only thousands of planets with life.  Personally, I bet it will be millions.  That doesn't mean they will all have intelligent life, but I bet some of the aliens will look pretty amazing to our descendants, someday, if they ever get to see them.

Do you know what the Local Fluff is?  That is in the Milky Way galaxy.  Does it sound interesting to you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Interstellar_Cloud

How about FG Sagittae, which is sometimes called the "Rosetta Stone of stellar evolution"?  That has been very interesting to many astronomers, and it is in the Milky Way.
http://www.aavso.org/vsots_fgsge2
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006astro.ph..8542J
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FG_Sagittae

How about Goldilocks planets?  They are interesting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/science/space/13planet.html

I hope this gets you started.  I'm sorry, I have to go, but get back to me tomorrow if you don't have ten yet, and I will try to help more.

Keep Looking Up!
-Ed