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Er, there's a giant cloud of dust called the dark rift that blocks a fair bit of the center of the galaxy. We only recently started looking though it at xray w
by sliken 8y ago
Er, there's a giant cloud of dust called the dark rift that blocks a fair bit of the center of the galaxy. We only recently started looking though it at xray wavelengths to see the center of the milky way (and the black hole there). On a clear night you can see the edges of the milky way and the giant cloud of dust.
- btilly 8y agoThat cloud is about 2000 light years away from us. The fact that there are patches of dust doesn't change the fact that we are seldom in the middle of such patches. And even when we are, it is a lot like the difference between being in light mist versus seeing it from a long ways away. We are, in fact, in the middle of a patch of "mist" called the "local fluff". See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Interstellar_Cloud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Interstellar_Cloud for more. This does not noticably cut out light between us and stars that are under 100 lightyears away.