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Let’s suppose you wanted to elegantly represent the Milky Way in a minimalist fashion in a way that would make sense a billion years hence (ie let’s set aside the damage wrought by colliding with Andromeda etc)

Are the objects with simple orbits that are observable at extreme distances and long lived enough to serve the purpose?

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  • $\begingroup$ Would Astronomy be a better home for this question? $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic ♦
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:00
  • $\begingroup$ The Sun orbits the galaxy in a rough period of about 230 million years. Over a billion years there's no practical way to represent our position (or indeed know what it would be now). $\endgroup$
    – StephenG - Help Ukraine
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:09
  • $\begingroup$ @StephenG-HelpUkraine: you misunderstood the question. I'm not trying to represent the location of the Solar System (and the fact it orbits the galaxy is explicit in the original question) but the galaxy itself. E.g. is there some unique identifying set of objects in the galaxy whose relationship and longevity is sufficient to identify the Milky Way? $\endgroup$
    – podperson
    Commented Feb 12, 2023 at 18:54
  • $\begingroup$ @Qmechanic yes, you're probably right. $\endgroup$
    – podperson
    Commented Feb 12, 2023 at 18:55

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