When we look at a picture of a galaxy, how is it possible that we see a disk form or a near perfect circle? Considering how long light takes to travel between the galaxy and the earth, shouldn't the images be more distorted?

Question

When we look at a picture of a galaxy, how is it possible that we see a disk form or a near perfect circle?  Considering how long light takes to travel between the galaxy and the earth, shouldn't the images be more distorted?

Hailey Alexander · Accepted Answer

The answer is quite simple. Telescopes in outer space, such as Hubble, take pictures of those galaxies not the ground based telescopes.

This is because the light from the universe is distorted by our atmosphere; space telescopes are able to capture much clearer images, which is how we are able to see the perfect circle of galaxies.

Levi Anderson · Answer

undefined When we observe a picture of a galaxy, the disk form or near perfect circle is due to the orientation of the galaxy relative to our line of sight. The vast distances involved mean that even though light takes a long time to travel from the galaxy to Earth, the distortion caused by this travel time is minimal compared to the overall size of the galaxy. Additionally, advanced imaging techniques can help to mitigate any distortions caused by the travel time of light.