How much does the Milky Way weigh?

[Still Waters]

The Milky Way is even weightier than imagined. Using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite, astronomers have determined the most accurate measurement of its mass: Our vast galaxy clocks in at 1.5 trillion solar masses.

One solar mass is the mass of our sun, which is 2 times 10 to the 30th power kilograms. It's not exactly as if the Milky Way, or even stars and planets, can be put on a scale.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/07/world/milky-way-weight-scn/index.html

[Imaginarynumber1]

At least 3

[SHaYap]

The Milky Way needs to go on a dairy free diet then ?

~

[MWoo7]

A ten, ? a twelve pounder? eh! ? a quarter pounder?  yeah that was kinda weak  / GROAN ... no likeys  *crickets*  aaaw BOO !

Edited March 10, 2019 by MWoo7

[zep73]

Hate to be the party pooper, but "weight" makes no sense in space. There's only mass and gravity.
Weight is relative to mass. A 200 pound iron ball on earth, weighs only 33 pounds on the moon.

[+joc]

1 minute ago, sci-nerd said:

Hate to be the party pooper, but "weight" makes no sense in space. There's only mass and gravity.
Weight is relative to mass. A 200 pound iron ball on earth, weighs only 33 pounds on the moon.

...and a  planet weighing over 140 Billion, Trillion tons...weighs exactly....nothing! Because a planet floating in space has no more weight than an apple floating in space.   Mass and Gravity!     ...but then again, what do I know...that is all astronomically above my pay-grade!

 

[Imaginarynumber1]

28 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

Hate to be the party pooper, but "weight" makes no sense in space. There's only mass and gravity.
Weight is relative to mass. A 200 pound iron ball on earth, weighs only 33 pounds on the moon.

Science related stories are often broken down into laymans terms so the unfettered masses can better understand things that they normal couldn't. 

And more often than not, the actual science is lost in the process. But hey, at least Karen and Susan can talk about how much our galaxy weighs over the water cooler monday morning while joking about how it's not even half of what Janice in accounting weighs.

[zep73]

11 minutes ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

Science related stories are often broken down into laymans terms so the unfettered masses can better understand things that they normal couldn't. 

And more often than not, the actual science is lost in the process. But hey, at least Karen and Susan can talk about how much our galaxy weighs over the water cooler monday morning while joking about how it's not even half of what Janice in accounting weighs.

Then they could just say that the Milky Way has the mass equivalent to 495 quadrillion Earth's.

That's 495,000,000,000,000,000.

Then people would still grasp it, but without screwing with facts about space.

[Imaginarynumber1]

4 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

Then they could just say that the Milky Way has the mass equivalent to 495 quadrillion Earth's.

That's 495,000,000,000,000,000.

Then people would still grasp it, but without screwing with facts about space.

They'd they'd just say it "weighs as much as...." because a lot of people do not understand the distinction between mass and weight

[MWoo7]

54 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

. . . ball on earth, weighs only 33 pounds on the moon.

  GGGGROANER ALERT:  Okay so what is a quarter pounder eh!? 

No necessary instant reply I was just tossing that out there.  TOOOOOODLES!

Edited March 10, 2019 by MWoo7

[zep73]

2 minutes ago, MWoo7 said:

Okay so what is a quarter pounder eh!?

A nice lunch?

[MWoo7]

17 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

A nice lunch?

 Quarterpounder WITH CHEESE ! would be Apx.: 0.6 ounces; BOO! so it would take 16.5
to fill you up what a rip off !

Probably stick with the 3 milky ways.

Edited March 10, 2019 by MWoo7

[zep73]

15 minutes ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

They'd they'd just say it "weighs as much as...." because a lot of people do not understand the distinction between mass and weight

That's how myths are born. Changing facts to fit common concepts.
What we need to do is make people curious about real facts. Not change them.

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

The chokolate bar? Hmm i would say 42 :-) ok i dont know the answer to this qestion and i wish i could have asked one of my relatives who passed resently about this he was a professor in thoretical physics.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Impedancer

[MWoo7]

HEY PASS THE CHOCO BUDDY! but only if it weighs a quarter pound.

[spud the mackem]

If it wasn't for Gravity all the stars and planets would fall to the bottom of the universe , and get squashed on top of each other .

[Ell]

A phenomenon was observed: that observation is a fact.

 

A phenomenon was interpreted: that interpretation is not a fact.