A Newer, More Accurate Measurement Sets the Mass of the Milky Way at 1.5 Trillion Solar Masses

Astronomers keep trying to measure the mass of the Milky Way and they keep coming up with different numbers. But it’s not that they’re bad at math. Measuring the mass of something as enormous as the Milky Way is confounding. Plus, we’re embedded in it; it takes some very clever maneuvering to constrain its mass. …