For comparison, James Blish's The Triumph Of Time states that:
each group of galaxies revolves in spiral arms around a common center of density;
one such group, the "inner metagalaxy," comprises about fifty galaxies, including the Milky Way and the Andromeda;
the metagalaxies form spiral arms curving back towards the cosmic center where the monobloc exploded;
tenuous bridges of stars, discovered in 1953, connect the galaxies like umbilical cords.
Thus, Blish presents a completely different account of stars between galaxies. He said in conversation that he hoped that a story could be written about those star bridges although intergalactic travel by one of the bridges would be no faster than by direct transit across intergalactic space.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, however, not all galaxies have spiral arms. So I fear James Blish erred here.
Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteI think his cosmology is wrong. I have never seen it anywhere else. This makes THE TRIUMPH OF TIME quaint.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteExactly! And I fear the same is true of some of the older works of Poul Anderson. The example I have in mind being TWILIGHT WORLD, because of his mistaken, 1940's conception of how nuclear weapons would work and likely effects on human genes.
Sean