Galactocentrism
Sign in to saveIn astronomy, galactocentrism is the theory that the Milky Way Galaxy, home of Earths Solar System, is at or near the center of the Universe. The galactocentric model was the standard model of cosmology from the decline of heliocentrism onward, but was reliant on the assumption that the Milky Way is the only such galactic structure in the universe, surrounded by a starless void only occasionally populated by extragalactic nebulae.
~4 min read
Article
3 sectionsContents
- Harlow Shapley and galactocentrism
- Shift from galactocentrism to acentrism
- References
In astronomy, galactocentrism is the theory that the Milky Way Galaxy, home of Earths Solar System, is at or near the center of the Universe. The galactocentric model was the standard model of cosmology from the decline of heliocentrism onward, but was reliant on the assumption that the Milky Way is the only such galactic structure in the universe, surrounded by a starless void only occasionally populated by extragalactic nebulae.
Thomas Wright and Immanuel Kant first speculated that fuzzy patches of light called nebulae were actually distant "island universes" consisting of many stellar systems. The shape of the solar system's own parent galaxy was expected to resemble such "island universes," but "scientific arguments were marshalled against such a possibility," and this view was rejected by almost all scientists until Edwin Hubble's measurements in 1924.