CP 19 Our Galaxy Flashcards
What do we call the bright, sphere-shaped region of stars that occupies the central few thousand light-years of the Milky Way Galaxy?
the galaxy’s bulge
Where are most of the Milky Way’s globular clusters found?
in the halo
Why do disk stars bob up and down as they orbit the galaxy?
because the gravitational pull of other disk stars always pulls them toward the disk
Red and orange stars are found evenly spread throughout the galactic disk, but blue stars are typically found where
only in or near star-forming clouds
Where does most star formation occur in the Milky Way Galaxy?
in the spiral arms
The primary way that we observe the atomic hydrogen that makes up most of the interstellar gas in the Milky Way is with __________.
radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 21 centimeters
What do halo stars do differently from disk stars?
Halo stars orbit the galactic center with many different inclinations, while disk stars all orbit in nearly the same plane.
Which kind of star is most likely to be found in the halo? star : O A M
M
We measure the mass of the black hole at the galactic center from:
the orbits of stars in the galactic center.
What is the best evidence for an extremely massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way?
The orbits of stars in the center of the galaxy indicate that the presence of an approximately 4 million solar-mass object in a region no larger than our solar system.
