The astronomers long ago cut the earth down to size, proved it to be only a minor planet revolving around the sun. The sun, on closer inspection, turned out to be only a middle-rank star, like several million others. But the "home" galaxythe Milky Waycontinued to seem twice as big as any other galaxy: it was something that earthlings could be proud of.
Last week, at an Amherst, Mass, meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Harvard's famed Astronomer Harlow Shapley demoted the Milky Way. It is a big galaxy, he said, but no bigger...
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