I've got a question... can anyone help?

[Lindsey]

If our solar system were half-way from the center to the edge of a giant elliptical galaxy, how would our night sky be different?

[Multifacet Services]

Hi Lindsey,

Good question. I'll bet there are simulation software packages out there that can be used to show the night sky there. The mechanics of answering such a question are intriguing but beyond my means except to play around with a star map and such. My answer would be just a wild guess! Right off the bat I would imagine there would be brighter starshine and more stars viewable with the naked eye. Many of our familiar constellations would be misshappen, with individual star parallax depending on the distances to the actual stars that make up the constellations from the current position and from the shifted position. What say we start with a map of known stars in actual position in the Milky Way galaxy. Do you know of such a map?

Can anyone help with this?

Lindsey, would you be interested in asking this question of other astronomy networks?