A Unitary Model of the Galactic System

Abstract

HOWEVER discordant the present views in astronomy are, they all concur in considering Milky Way clouds as real agglomerations of stars and regard the collection of stars surrounding the sun as one of these clouds (local system). To the common-sense evidence based on the apparently cloud-like character of the Milky Way one usually adds the following argument. The space density of stars in the direction of some galactic clouds first decreases and then increases again, thus indicating the existence of separate stellar agglomerations. The general belief in the existence of the local system is based on two facts: the well-known decrease in apparent star density with increasing distance from the sun, and the distribution of brighter early stars and diffuse nebulae along a circle inclined at several degrees to the galactic equator.