Concept explainers
The reason the astronomers in the nineteenth-century thought that the“spiral nebulae” are a part of the Milky Way.
Explanation of Solution
Introduction:
Spiral nebulas have a very different shape when compared with other nebulas. Our Milky Way itself is a spiral galaxy with arching spiral arms that are active sites of star formation. Other nebulae are ellipse-shaped agglomerations of stars. Most galaxies are located as groups or clusters.
In 1755, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant suggested that vast collections of stars lie outside the confines of the Milky Way and introduced the concept of “island universes”. Many nineteenth-century astronomers who believed the concept of “island universe” think that the “spiral nebulae” are part of the Milky Way because they are relatively small and they look like nearby objects scattered around our galaxy like globular clusters.
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Chapter 23 Solutions
Universe: Stars And Galaxies
- Assume that dark matter is uniformly distributed throughout the Milky Way, not just in the outer halo but also throughout the bulge and in the disk, where the solar system lives. How much dark matter would you expect there to be inside the solar system? Would you expect that to be easily detectable? Hint: For the radius of the Milky Way’s dark matter halo, use R=300,000 light-years; for the solar system’s radius, use 100 AU; and start by calculating the ratio of the two volumes.arrow_forwardWhy does the disk of a spiral galaxy appear dark when viewed edge on?arrow_forwardThe best parallaxes obtained with Hipparcos have an accuracy of 0.001 arcsec. If you want to measure the distance to a star with an accuracy of 10%, its parallax must be 10 times larger than the typical error. How far away can you obtain a distance that is accurate to 10% with Hipparcos data? The disk of our Galaxy is 100,000 light-years in diameter. What fraction of the diameter of the Galaxy’s disk is the distance for which we can measure accurate parallaxes?arrow_forward
- Using the information provided in Table 18.1, what is the average stellar density in our part of the Galaxy? Use only the true stars (types OM) and assume a spherical distribution with radius of 26 light-years. Stars within 21 Light-Years of the Sunarrow_forwardStars form in the Milky Way at a rate of about 1 solar mass per year. At this rate, how long would it take for all the interstellar gas in the Milky Way to be turned into stars if there were no fresh gas coming in from outside? How does this compare to the estimated age of the universe, 14 billion years? What do you conclude from this?arrow_forwardConsider the following data on four stars: Which star would have the largest radius? Which star would have the smallest radius? Which star is the most common in our area of the Galaxy? Which star is the least common?arrow_forward
- Suppose the average mass of a star in the Galaxy is one-third of a solar mass. Use the value for the mass of the Galaxy that we calculated in Exercise 25.19, and estimate how many stars are in the Milky Way. Give some reasons it is reasonable to assume that the mass of an average star is less than the mass of the Sun.arrow_forwardLook back at Figure 6.18 of Cygnus A and read its caption again. The material in the giant lobes at the edges of the image had to have been ejected from the center at least how many years ago? Figure 6.18 Radio Image. This image has been constructed of radio observations at the Very Large Array of a galaxy called Cygnus A. Colors have been added to help the eye sort out regions of different radio intensities. Red regions are the most intense, blue the least. The visible galaxy would be a small dot in the center of the image. The radio image reveals jets of expelled material (more than 160,000 light-years long) on either side of the galaxy. (credit: NRAO/AUI)arrow_forwardThe Large Magellanic Cloud has about one-tenth the number of stars found in our own Galaxy. Suppose the mix of high- and low-mass stars is exactly the same in both galaxies. Approximately how often does a supernova occur in the Large Magellanic Cloud?arrow_forward
- Suppose 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_forwardWhen comparing two isolated spiral galaxies that have the same apparent brightness, but rotate at different rates, what can you say about their relative luminosity?arrow_forwardWhat does it mean if one elliptical galaxy has broader spectrum lines than another elliptical galaxy?arrow_forward
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