Until now, the understanding of the galaxy's shape had been based upon indirect measurements of celestial landmarks within the Milky Way and inferences from structures observed in other galaxies populating the universe.

到目前为止，人类对星系形状的理解是基于对银河系内天体标志的间接测量，以及对宇宙中其他星系结构的推断。

The new map was formulated using precise measurements of the distance from the sun to 2,400 stars called 'Cepheid variables' scattered throughout the galaxy.

这幅新地图是通过精确测量散布在银河系中的2400颗“造父变星”与太阳之间的距离而绘制的。

'Cepheids are ideal to study the Milky Way for several reasons,' added University of Warsaw astronomer and study co-author Dorota Skowron.

“造父变星是研究银河系的理想选择，原因有很多，”华沙大学天文学家、研究报告的合著者多洛塔·斯考伦补充道。

'Cepheid variables are bright supergiant stars and they are 100 to 10,000 times more luminous than the sun, so we can detect them on the outskirts of our galaxy. They are relatively young - younger than 400 million years - so we can find them near their birthplaces.'

“造父变星是明亮的超巨星，其亮度是太阳的100到一万倍，所以我们可以在银河系的外围探测到它们。它们形成的时间相对较短，不到4亿年，所以可以在其发源地附近找到它们。”

【银河系居然是弯的!】相关文章：

★ 餐厅是怎么引诱我们多花钱的?

★ Wi-Fi到底代表什么？

★ 巴西某部落不识“年月”只分“昼夜”

★ 今天会是美好的一天

★ 澳大利亚新规:骂人者罚款

★ 教育程度是你的恋爱标准吗？

★ IQ测的只是智力吗？

★ 颜色隐藏大学问 看红色竟能强身健体

★ 马斯克的SpaceX测试了最新的飞船火箭

★ 趁着年轻做自己想做的事