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<blockquote data-quote="Matt Black" data-source="post: 2985051" data-attributes="member: 5477"><p>I see that a lot of good answers have been given. But pedantry demands that I throw in my 2c.</p><p></p><p>Here are the methods you would use:</p><p></p><p>Within the galaxy: </p><p></p><p>Triangulation using the local group of galaxies and our own galactic center. Most usefully, Andromeda and the Magellanic Clouds. These alone would allow you to determine your position with high accuracy.</p><p></p><p>Alternatively, radio observations of 21cm emission from neutral hydrogen gas in the spiral arms. This has been used to accurately map the Milky Way's structure. </p><p></p><p>(Pulsars wouldn't be useful because you have to be aligned with their axial jets to see them. From any other point in the galaxy, chances are you won't see the ones that we can see from earth.)</p><p></p><p>Outside the galaxy, in the local universe:</p><p></p><p>If you're within a few hundred megaparsecs you could triangulate using the nearby clusters of galaxies. Fornax, Hydra, Virgo, etc. These are all very well studied and should be recognisable from any direction. That would give you a (very) rough location of the local group of galaxies. You would then search for pairs of spiral galaxies that matched Andromeda and the Milky Way. This would take a fair amount of time, because you'd need two wide-field surveys - one shallow, all-sky survey and one deeper survey over several arcminutes.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the local universe:</p><p></p><p>You're probably hosed. Your only real hope would be to do a massive, fairly deep survey of the sky and try to match the large-scale structure with that known from Earth-based surveys. You couldn't rely on things like quasars, which only have life-spans of 10 million years or so. The difference in light travel time means that an entirely different population of quasars would be visible from different points in space. Besides, quasars look very different depending on the angle that you view them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Matt Black, post: 2985051, member: 5477"] I see that a lot of good answers have been given. But pedantry demands that I throw in my 2c. Here are the methods you would use: Within the galaxy: Triangulation using the local group of galaxies and our own galactic center. Most usefully, Andromeda and the Magellanic Clouds. These alone would allow you to determine your position with high accuracy. Alternatively, radio observations of 21cm emission from neutral hydrogen gas in the spiral arms. This has been used to accurately map the Milky Way's structure. (Pulsars wouldn't be useful because you have to be aligned with their axial jets to see them. From any other point in the galaxy, chances are you won't see the ones that we can see from earth.) Outside the galaxy, in the local universe: If you're within a few hundred megaparsecs you could triangulate using the nearby clusters of galaxies. Fornax, Hydra, Virgo, etc. These are all very well studied and should be recognisable from any direction. That would give you a (very) rough location of the local group of galaxies. You would then search for pairs of spiral galaxies that matched Andromeda and the Milky Way. This would take a fair amount of time, because you'd need two wide-field surveys - one shallow, all-sky survey and one deeper survey over several arcminutes. Beyond the local universe: You're probably hosed. Your only real hope would be to do a massive, fairly deep survey of the sky and try to match the large-scale structure with that known from Earth-based surveys. You couldn't rely on things like quasars, which only have life-spans of 10 million years or so. The difference in light travel time means that an entirely different population of quasars would be visible from different points in space. Besides, quasars look very different depending on the angle that you view them. [/QUOTE]
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