21st Century Astronomy
6th Edition
ISBN: 9780393428063
Author: Kay
Publisher: NORTON
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Question
Chapter 20, Problem 17QP
To determine
The distribution of globular clusters within the Milky Way galaxy, the size of the galaxy and the distance from the centre.
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What are globular clusters and what did the ones in the Milky Way help us to measure?
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.
Let us assume that our galaxy consists of 2.5 × 1011 stars each of one solar mass. How long will a star at a distance of 50,000 ly from the galactic centre take to complete one revolution ? Take the diameter of the Milky Way to be 105 light year.
Chapter 20 Solutions
21st Century Astronomy
Ch. 20.1 - Prob. 20.1CYUCh. 20.2 - Prob. 20.2CYUCh. 20.3 - Prob. 20.3CYUCh. 20.4 - Prob. 20.4CYUCh. 20 - Prob. 1QPCh. 20 - Prob. 2QPCh. 20 - Prob. 3QPCh. 20 - Prob. 4QPCh. 20 - Prob. 5QPCh. 20 - Prob. 6QP
Ch. 20 - Prob. 7QPCh. 20 - Prob. 8QPCh. 20 - Prob. 9QPCh. 20 - Prob. 10QPCh. 20 - Prob. 11QPCh. 20 - Prob. 12QPCh. 20 - Prob. 13QPCh. 20 - Prob. 14QPCh. 20 - Prob. 15QPCh. 20 - Prob. 16QPCh. 20 - Prob. 17QPCh. 20 - Prob. 18QPCh. 20 - Prob. 19QPCh. 20 - Prob. 20QPCh. 20 - Prob. 21QPCh. 20 - Prob. 22QPCh. 20 - Prob. 23QPCh. 20 - Prob. 24QPCh. 20 - Prob. 25QPCh. 20 - Prob. 26QPCh. 20 - Prob. 27QPCh. 20 - Prob. 28QPCh. 20 - Prob. 29QPCh. 20 - Prob. 30QPCh. 20 - Prob. 31QPCh. 20 - Prob. 32QPCh. 20 - Prob. 33QPCh. 20 - Prob. 34QPCh. 20 - Prob. 35QPCh. 20 - Prob. 36QPCh. 20 - Prob. 37QPCh. 20 - Prob. 38QPCh. 20 - Prob. 39QPCh. 20 - Prob. 40QPCh. 20 - Prob. 41QPCh. 20 - Prob. 42QPCh. 20 - Prob. 43QPCh. 20 - Prob. 44QPCh. 20 - Prob. 45QP
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- What are the two best ways to measure the distance to a nearby spiral galaxy, and how would it be measured?arrow_forwardSuppose the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy merges completely with the Milky Way and adds 150,000 stars to it. Estimate the percentage change in the mass of the Milky Way. Will this be enough mass to affect the orbit of the Sun around the galactic center? Assume that all of the Sagittarius galaxy’s stars end up in the nuclear bulge of the Milky Way Galaxy and explain your answer.arrow_forwardWhat are the two best ways to measure the distance to a distant, isolated spiral galaxy, and how would it be measured?arrow_forward
- Describe how you might use the color of a galaxy to determine something about what kinds of stars it contains.arrow_forwardAssume that the average galaxy contains 1011MSunand that the average distance between galaxies is 10 million light-years. Calculate the average density of matter (mass per unit volume) in galaxies. What fraction is this of the critical density we calculated in the chapter?arrow_forwardOne way to calculate the size and shape of the Galaxy is to estimate the distances to faint stars just from their observed apparent brightnesses and to note the distance at which stars are no longer observable. The first astronomers to try this experiment did not know that starlight is dimmed by interstellar dust. Their estimates of the size of the Galaxy were much too small. Explain why.arrow_forward
- Suppose a galaxy formed stars for a few million years and then stopped (and no other galaxy merged or collided with it). What would be the most massive stars on the main sequence after 500 million years? After 10 billion years? How would the color of the galaxy change over this time span? (Refer to Evolution from the Main Sequence to Red Giants.)arrow_forwardExplain where in a spiral galaxy you would expect to find globular clusters, molecular clouds, and atomic hydrogen.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
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