Harlow Shapley found the Milky Way was:
A)centered on the Earth.
B)much smaller than previously thought.
C)rapidly expanding.
D)much larger than previously thought.
E)uniformly spherical in shape.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Harlow Shapley found that the Milky Way was much larger than previously thought. He also discovered that it was a spiral-shaped galaxy, with the Sun and Earth located near one of its outer arms. Harlow Shapley found that the Milky Way was much larger than previously thought, expanding the known size of the galaxy from 30,000 light-years to over 100,000 light-years. This was based on his observations of Cepheid variable stars, which allowed him to measure the distances to globular star clusters in the Milky Way.

Harlow Shapley Found the Milky Way Was