Understanding Our Universe
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, Problem 34QAP
To determine

Evidences for a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way; Comparison of mass of supermassive black holes at the centre of our galaxy to the ones found in most other spiral galaxies.

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Figure 2 shows the "rotation curve" of NGC 2742. It plots the “radial velocity (V)" (how fast material is moving either toward or away from us) that is measured for objects at different distances (R = radius") from the center of the galaxy. The center of the galaxy is at 0 kpc (kiloparsecs) with a speed of 9 km/sec away from us. (These velocities have been corrected for the observed tilt of the galaxy and represent true orbital velocities of the stars and gas.) 200 100 U4779 -100 As you can see, one side of the galaxy is moving with a negative velocity (spinning toward us), while the other side has a positive velocity (spinning away from us). Using Newton's gravity equation, we will be able to determine the gravitational mass of the entire galaxy and how the mass varies versus distance from the galaxy's center. -200 -8 8 -4 Radius (kpc) Read the following text carefully and follow the instructions: Select five radii spaced evenly from 0-10 kpc across the galaxy. Your selections should…
Which of the following best describe the reasons we have to infer that a supermassive blackhole lurks in the centre of our galaxy? Stars keep disappearing from view as they get swallowed up in the galactic centre. Tight orbit of stars around an invisible companion & giant bubbles of cold, star forming gas have been expelled from galactic centre. We can measure the gravitational waves coming from such an enormous black hole. O Tight orbit of stars around an invisible companion & giant bubbles filled with gamma rays expelled from the galactic centre.
A galaxy's rotation curve is a measure of the orbital speed of stars as a function of distance from the galaxy's centre. The fact that rotation curves are primarily flat at large galactocen- tric distances (vrot(r) ~ constant) is the most common example of why astronomer's believe dark matter exists. Let's work out why! Assuming that each star in a given galaxy has a circular orbit, we know that the accelera- tion due to gravity felt by each star is due to the mass enclosed within its orbital radius r and equal to v?/r. Here, ve is the circular orbit velocity of the star. (a) Show that the expected relationship between ve and r due to the stellar halo (p(r) xr-3.5) does not produce a flat rotation curve. (b) Show that a p(r) ∞ r¯² density profile successfully produces a flat ro- tation curve and must therefore be the general profile that dark matter follows in our galaxy.
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