Do you know what the classic image of our Milky Way galaxy looks like? All yellow in the center, with two milky-blue arms spiraling away into the blackness of space, right? Wrong. It's taken a few decades of scientists arguing over it to reach that conclusion, but we can now say it's definitely wrong.
The 'four arm' theory was first proffered by astronomers using radio telescopes in the 1950s, but seemed to be countered when NASA's Spitzer space telescope recorded images of a two armed galaxy in 2008. After poring over the detail and conducting further study, they concluded that because Spitzer works on infrared, it only sought out comparatively lighter, cooler stars like our own Sun. Because of that, it was blind to supermassive hot stars which stay closer to the center of the galaxy, forming smaller, secondary arms of their own.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.