Understanding Our Universe
3rd Edition
ISBN: 9780393614428
Author: PALEN, Stacy, Kay, Laura, Blumenthal, George (george Ray)
Publisher: W.w. Norton & Company,
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Chapter 14.2, Problem 14.2CYU
To determine
Determination of the size of Milky Way.
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The Whirlpool galaxy is about 30 million light-years away. If you were in a spaceship that could travel at half of the speed of light, the amount of time it would take you reach the Whirlpool galaxy is __ (Be specific, use a number.)
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false. (Select T-True, F-False. If the first is T and the rest F, enter TFFFFF).
A) The nearest large spiral Galaxy, similar in size to the Milky Way, is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). It is located about 2 million light years from Earth.
B) On very large scales, matter in the Universe is distributed in clumps and voids.
C) RR Lyrae and Cepheid variable stars are used to measure the distance to nearby galaxies.
D) Distances to most stars in the Milky Way are measured by parallax.
E) If we find an O type star in our galaxy, it must be in the disk.
F) The disk of the Milky Way galaxy is about 1,000,000 light years in diameter.
Astronomers are always seeking to build bigger, more powerful telescopes, which will allow them to study faint galaxies that are very far away. Which of the following is the main reason they're so obsessed with studying very distant galaxies?
Group of answer choices
Light traveled much faster during the early history of the universe, so we can study how the speed of light has changed through time.
Very distant galaxies are more likely to contain planets than the Milky Way is, so we have a better chance of detecting life in those galaxies than we do in our own galaxy.
Since the light from these galaxies took so long to reach us, we're seeing them as they were when the universe was very young.
Strangely, distant galaxies are more like our Milky Way than the Milky Way's `neighbor' galaxies are, and astronomers would like to figure out why this is.
Chapter 14 Solutions
Understanding Our Universe
Ch. 14.1 - Prob. 14.1CYUCh. 14.2 - Prob. 14.2CYUCh. 14.3 - Prob. 14.3CYUCh. 14.4 - Prob. 14.4CYUCh. 14 - Prob. 1QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 2QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 3QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 4QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 5QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 6QAP
Ch. 14 - Prob. 7QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 8QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 9QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 10QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 11QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 12QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 13QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 14QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 15QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 16QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 17QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 18QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 19QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 20QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 21QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 22QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 23QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 24QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 25QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 27QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 28QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 29QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 30QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 31QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 32QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 33QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 34QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 35QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 36QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 37QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 38QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 39QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 40QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 41QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 43QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 44QAPCh. 14 - Prob. 45QAP
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- The diameter of our disk-shaped galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 1.0×105light-years. The distance to the Andromeda galaxy, which is the spiral galaxynearest to the Milky Way, is about 2.5 million light-years. If a scale modelrepresents the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies as dinner plates 20 cm indiameter, determine the distance between the centers of the two plates.arrow_forwardThe Andromeda Galaxy is 2 million light years away from the Milky Way. How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy?arrow_forwardIn the image below you see two interacting galaxies; one is nearly face -on and the other is nearly edge-on. Discuss the shapes of these galaxies and describe what is happeningarrow_forward
- Imagine that you have achieved immortality and you used it to travel outside of the Milky Way (you will be leaving today and you will be traveling with the speed of 1/10th of the speed of light). Describe how the Milky Way would look from the outside if you could watch it for the next 100 billion years.arrow_forwardThe distance to the Andromeda Galaxy is estimated at about 2 x 106 light years. A light year is the distance traveled by light in one year; if the speed of light is 3 x 108 m/s, about how far is it from our galaxy to Andromeda.arrow_forwardThe Large Magellanic Cloud is a small satellite galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. It is currently orbiting the Milky Way at a distance of about 160,000 light-years from the galactic center at a velocity of about 300 km/s. Use these values in the orbital velocity law to get an estimate of the Milky Wayʹs mass. (The value you obtain is a fairly rough estimate because the orbit of the Large Magellanic Cloud is elliptical, not circular.)arrow_forward
- Astronomers observe several galaxies in the Local Group that actually approach the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest of these. Does this mean that the Hubble Law is incorrect?arrow_forwardOn a 1-to-10^19 scale our Milky Way galaxy would just about fit on a soccer field. On this scale, how far is the distance from the sun to alpha centauri (one of the closest stars to the sun, at a distance of 4.4 light years).arrow_forwardThe distance from the Sun to the nearest star is about 4 x 1016 m. The Milky Way galaxy (shown) is roughly a disk of diameter 1021 m and thickness ~ 1019 m. Find the order of magnitude of the number of stars in the Milky Way. Assume the distance between the Sun and our nearest neighbor is typical.arrow_forward
- List and briefly describe 3 of the main differences between spiral galaxies and largeelliptical galaxies.arrow_forwardJoaquin tells his science class that galaxies consist of gas, dust, and many planets. What is the most important component of galaxies Joaquin is missing in his descriptionarrow_forwardWhat is dark matter? (200 words)arrow_forward
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