So, I haven't been active for a rather long time on these forums. I've both had a lot of IRL stuff to deal with in the last several months, and I've only recently ordered a new GPU, which should arrive on the 31st (I was unable to start SE with my current, rather outdated one). Hence, I haven't been able to do any localization work whatsoever, but Marko S. has taken that into his own hands until I'm able to translate again, so major props to him for that
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Anyways, I've cobbled together a wiki entry for the Milky Way. In truth, I wrote it months ago, but never got around to posting it here. Here it is:
RObject
{
LocName "Milky Way"
Name "Milky Way"
Descr "The Milky Way is the barred spiral galaxy in which the Solar System resides.
[big]Astronomical history[/big]
Since the dawn of time, mankind has held in awe the majestic appearance of our home galaxy arching across the night sky. This great fixture of the celestial sphere came to be known as a variety of things among the many cultures of the world, but the Greek interpretation, that of spilt milk, would give it the name it currently bears - the Milky Way. Despite it's existence being well-known since time immemorial, only relatively recently did humanity begin to understand it's true nature. Up until the 17th century, it was unknown for certain what the great band of light even consisted of. Only in 1610, with the advent of the first telescopes, did Galileo Galilei definitively reveal that it is composed of vast numbers of faint stars. For the next three hundred years, the Milky Way would be thought to encompass the entire Universe.
In the early 20th century, however, controversy arose in the astronomical community as Heber Curtis proposed his 'island universe' hypothesis, which claimed that the Milky Way was but one of countless galaxies scattered throughout an almost unfathomably expansive cosmos. Though the idea quickly gained traction, it wouldn't become accepted as fact within the scientific community until the 1920s, when Edwin Hubble proved it's validity by resolving parts of other spiral galaxies as consisting of stars and by using Cepheid variables to gauge their approximate distances, showing them to be much too far away to be considered a part of the Milky Way. Though we now know that the Milky Way is just one of countless galaxies, it still holds an obvious importance in astronomy, as almost all deep sky objects close enough to be studied in detail are contained within it.
[big]Environment and satellites[/big]
The Milky Way belongs to the Local Group, a collection of galaxies which also includes M31(Andromeda), M33(Triangulum) and various other minor ones. Among the rest, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are perhaps the most notable as they are the largest and most conspicuous satellites of the Milky Way, being prominently visible from the southern hemisphere of Earth. However, recent speed measurements indicate that they may not actually be gravitationally bound to our galaxy and are merely passing by in a close encounter. If that is the case, the actual largest satellite is the nearby Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, which is currently in the process of being consumed by our galaxy.
[big]Structure[/big]
Consisting of several loose arms and a central bar structure, the Milky Way is a rather typical barred spiral galaxy(Sbc in the Hubble classification system). It's core is located some 25,000 light-years from the Solar system and is mainly composed of densely-packed ancient stars surrounding the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Further outwards, the vast mass of gas, dust and stars that makes up the galaxy is separated into four major spiral arms. Frequent branching, merging and other irregularities means that there are several lesser arms also scattered throughout the Milky Way. One such spur, the Orion Arm, is home to the Solar system. Above and below the disk extends a spheroidal halo of globular clusters and isolated, old stars."
}
I hope that it's up to SE's standards