How a scientist discovered we lived in one galaxy of many Until
84 years ago astronomers thought the Milky Way Galaxy was the
entire universe. Then they found that fuzzy objects in the sky
were galaxies themselves. August 21, 2009 Edwin Hubble
(1889-1953) joined the Mount Wilson Observatory staff in 1919, a
few years after earning his Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago. His research goal was to study galactic nebulae (the
nebulous objects scattered throughout the Milky Way). He would
perform that research on the newly completed 100-inch Hooker
telescope, the largest in the world at that time. Also known as
M31, the Andromeda Galaxy is the furthest-away object that can
be viewed with the naked eye. Photo by T. A. Rector/B. A.
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