Galaxies Flashcards
In which constellation seen from Earth is the centre of the Milky Way located?
Sagittarius
What is a Galaxy?
A group of billions of stars bound together by gravity
What is in the centre of a galaxy called?
A bulge of stars, also called a galactic nucleus
Outside of the galactic nucleus where are the rest of the stars located?
On a narrow disc or disk
On the disc what is the dust in between stars called?
Interstellar medium
From above the disc is made up of different what of stars?
Spiral arms
What is the area called in the centre of a galaxy where lots stars are formed?
The galactic bar
Where is the best place to view the centre of the galaxy from Earth?
The Southern Hemisphere
How is our solar system Angled to the disc of the Galaxy?
It is slightly above the main disc and is really quite tilted
Which is w particularly useful wave length to use when observing the Milky Way? Why?
21cm wavelength, in the radio wave category. This is useful because hydrogen gives this wavelength off and most matter in the universe is hydrogen , these wavelengths tend to go straight through material that would absorb visible waves
How are hydrogen waves picked up?
By huge radio telescopes or arrays of many of them
Around how far away from the centre bulge / galactic nucleus is the Earth?
Around 2 thirds of the way out
What are groups of stars called?
Clusters
What are the 2 types of clusters?
Open clusters and globular clusters.
What are open clusters?
A group of stars which are loosely bound by each other’s gravity. All the stars are around the same age as they formed from the same nebula, they don’t live long from around a few 100 million to 1 billion years. They are located on the disc
What are globular clusters?
A roughly spherical group of old stars and have a stronger mutual gravitational attraction. They are larger than open clusters and orbit the centre of the galaxy above or below the disc in what is call d the galactic halo
The Milky Way has approximately how many globular clusters? Counted so far
158
What are all the ams of a galaxy doing?
Rotating around the middle of the galaxy
How long does it take a galaxy to rotate approximately?
225 - 250 Million years
What happens to the wavelength (21cm hydrogen)of an object is moving away from where you are observing it? What is this called?
We’ll measure longer than 21cm which will make it appear nearer red on the wavelength spectrum. This is redshift.
What happens to the wavelength (21cm hydrogen) of an object if it is moving towards where you are observing it? What is this called?
We’ll measure shorter than 21cm, making it nearer blue on the wavelength spectrum. This is called blueshift.
How do we know the galaxy is rotating?
By measuring blueshift and redshift
What are the 3 types of AGN?
Seyfert, Quasars and Blazars
What does AGN stand for? What is it?
Active Galactic Nuclei
They are galaxies which have a radiation emitting centre
What is a Seyfert galaxy?
An AGN that look like normal galaxies in visible wavelengths but have a brighter core, which is radiation emitting. It is aligned so it’s North and South galactic poles are not in the direction of us/ Earth, they have the same sort of plane/ poles as out galaxy
How many different types of Seyfert galaxies are there? How are they different?
Type I emits a lot of UV and X-ray radiation
Type II emits a lot of infrared radiation
There are 2 types in total
What is a quasar galaxy?
An AGN that doesn’t appear to have much of a galaxy around it but is bright across the whole of the EM spectrum, they are strong radio sources as they have been red shifted, meaning they are very far away and young
What are Blazars?
An AGN similar to a Seyfert but is aligned differently such that the galaxies galactic North or South is directed at us/ Earth. They vary massively in brightness over time and fire huge amounts of gamma rays towards us
What does radiation come out of galaxies in?
In jets of energy
What are the types of galaxies (there shape/ classification)?
Elliptical galaxies (nearly circular to very eccentric)
Lenticular , a central bulge surrounded by a disc but the disc isn’t broken down into spirals
Spiral galaxies barred and regular
Irregular (2 galaxies have crossed and messed them up)
