The Bird is the Word

[MGmirkin]

(The Bird is the Word; Jun 10, 2008)

"Do astronomers really prefer to elaborate obsolete theoretical assumptions rather than make new discoveries?" Halton Arp in Seeing Red.

This object - or these objects, depending on how you want to "see" (understand) them - lies west of the teapot's handle in the constellation of Sagittarius, at the edge of the Milky Way's central bulge. The object has been named The Bird because astronomers were looking for something familiar to see. If you're looking for tidal distortion, you'll see it. If you're looking for Birkeland current braiding, you'll see it.

The high redshift (z=0.049) means that the object (or objects) is 650 million light years away - if you believe (with the astronomical consensus) that redshift is proportional to distance. Or it means that the object is young - if you believe (with Halton Arp and collaborators) that redshift is proportional to age. Or it means that the object is the early stage of a plasma discharge instability - if you believe (with plasma cosmologists) that redshift is proportional to current density/electrical stress.

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