It should be fairly easy to determine the rotation direction of any (spiral) galaxy we can see, based on reasonable assumptions about the relationship between rotation and the configuration of the spiral arms. There should be thousands or millions of visible galaxies for which this could be determined (out of the estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe). Perhaps I'm missing something, but why bother reporting a result from such a tiny sample?
It should also be possible to derive more detailed information that just clockwise vs. counter-clockwise. The rotation of a galaxy defines a direction (the galaxy's rotational north pole) and a point on the surface of an imaginary sphere. This could be determined by the galaxy's apparent rotational direction, its orientation, and its position in the sky. It would be interesting to see a plot of those points. In principle, they should be random. (If the points spell out "Go stick your head in a pig", I'll be very sorry that Douglas Adams didn't live to see it.)
It should be fairly easy to determine the rotation direction of any (spiral) galaxy we can see, based on reasonable assumptions about the relationship between rotation and the configuration of the spiral arms. There should be thousands or millions of visible galaxies for which this could be determined (out of the estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe). Perhaps I'm missing something, but why bother reporting a result from such a tiny sample?
It should also be possible to derive more detailed information that just clockwise vs. counter-clockwise. The rotation of a galaxy defines a direction (the galaxy's rotational north pole) and a point on the surface of an imaginary sphere. This could be determined by the galaxy's apparent rotational direction, its orientation, and its position in the sky. It would be interesting to see a plot of those points. In principle, they should be random. (If the points spell out "Go stick your head in a pig", I'll be very sorry that Douglas Adams didn't live to see it.)