The factor that misled Herschel into concluding that the stars of the Milky Way were distributed with the Sun at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy was
A) hot hydrogen gas in the Galaxy, its emission hiding the more distant stars.
B) interstellar dust that obscured the more distant stars and thereby localized his observations.
C) gravitational bending of light by the mass of the Galaxy, distorting the relative positions of the stars.
D) that most of the "stars" he measured were in fact distant galaxies that are distributed uniformly around the Sun.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Herschel's conclusion that the Sun was at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy was misled by interstellar dust, which obscured more distant stars and made his observations seem localized. This dust prevented him from accurately gauging the true distribution of stars in the galaxy.

The Factor That Misled Herschel into Concluding That the Stars