The Milky Way is warped in more ways than one
and you probably see something like most artist illustrations of the Milky Way: a top-down view of a pinwheel. But from the side, these disk galaxies appear drastically different. For one, they’re much thinner than they are wide — the typical aspect ratio is like that of a pancake. And, like pancakes wobbling as they flip through the air, these galaxies are often warped.
