Concept explainers
Galaxies are found in the “walls” of huge voids; very few galaxies are found in the voids themselves. The text says that the structure of filaments and voids has been present in the universe since shortly after the expansion began 13.8 billion years ago. In science, we always have to check to see whether some conclusion is contradicted by any other information we have. In this case, we can ask whether the voids would have filled up with galaxies in roughly 14 billion years. Observations show that in addition to the motion associated with the expansion of the universe, the galaxies in the walls of the voids are moving in random directions at typical speeds of 300 km/s. At least some of them will be moving into the voids. How far into the void will a galaxy move in 14 billion years? Is it a reasonable hypothesis that the voids have existed for 14 billion years?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 28 Solutions
Astronomy
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Essential University Physics: Volume 2 (3rd Edition)
An Introduction to Thermal Physics
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
University Physics with Modern Physics (14th Edition)
The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals (2nd Edition)
The Cosmic Perspective (8th Edition)
- A galaxy is observed receding from Earth with a speed of 2800 km/s. If the Hubble constant is 22 km/s per million light-years, estimate how many years ago the light that we presently see from the galaxy actually left the galaxy. (c = 3.00 × 108 m/s, 1 ly = 9.461 × 1015 m, 1 y = 3.156 × 107 s) O 1.3 × 10^8 y O 4.2 × 10^8 y O 4.2 × 10^7 y O 1.4 x 10^7 yarrow_forwardHow old is the wild the universe be, assuming space-time IS FLAT and the expansion of the universe has NOT been accelerating?arrow_forwardA 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.arrow_forward
- What evidence can you give that we live in a galaxy?arrow_forwardI asked the following question and was given the attached solution: Suppose that the universe were full of spherical objects, each of mass m and radius r . If the objects were distributed uniformly throughout the universe, what number density (#/m3) of spherical objects would be required to make the density equal to the critical density of our Universe? Values: m = 4 kg r = 0.0407 m Answer must be in scientific notation and include zero decimal places (1 sig fig --- e.g., 1234 should be written as 1*10^3) I don't follow the work and I got the wrong answer, so please help and show your work as I do not follow along easily thanksarrow_forwardPretend that galaxies are spaced evenly, 8.0 Mpc apart, and the average mass of a galaxy is 1.0 ✕ 1011 M. What is the average density (in kg/m3) of matter in the universe? Which model universe does this density value support?arrow_forward
- Pretend that galaxies are spaced evenly, 7.0 Mpc apart, and the average mass of a galaxy is 1.0 ✕ 1011 M. What is the average density (in kg/m3) of matter in the universe? (Note: The volume of a sphere is 4/3pieR^3 and the mass of the sun is 2.0 ✕ 1030 kg.) ______ kg/m^3 Which model universe does this density value support? A: open B: flat C: closedarrow_forwardLet's say that the number density of galaxies in the universe is, on average, 3 × 10–68 galaxies/m3. If astronomers could observe all galaxies out to a distance of 1010 light-years, how many galaxies would they find? (Note that there are 1016 meters in 1 light-year.)arrow_forwardn(r) = 1ge where r represents the distance from the centre of the Galaxy, Ro is the distance of the Sun from the centre of the Galaxy, Ra is the typical size of disk and no is the stellar density of disk at the position of the Sun. All distances are expressed in kpc. An astronomer observes the center of the Galaxy within a small field of view. We take a particular type of Red giant stars as the standard candles for the observation with approximately constant absolute magnitude of M = -0.2, (a) A telescope has a limiting magnitude of m = 18. Calculate the maximum distance to which this telescope can detect these red giant stars. For simplicity we ignore the presence of interstellar medium so there is no extinction. (b) Assume an extinction of 0.7 mag/kpc for the interstellar medium. Repeat the calculation as done in the part 5a and obtain a rough number for the maximum distance these red giant stars can be observed. (c) Give an expression for the number of these red giant stars per mag-…arrow_forward
- An important part of the lifecycle of galaxies like the Milky Way is the self regulation of formation of future generations of stars. Which statement best describes this process? A) Massive stars explode as Supernovae, heating nearby gas which then can't form stars, and even forcing the gas out of the galaxy in asuperbubble. B) Low mass stars like our Sun explode as Supernovae, heating nearby gas which then can't form stars, and even forcing the gas out the galaxy in asuperbubble. C) Stars fuse new elements in their cores which mix with nearby gas clouds, preventing the collapse of the clouds and hence stopping new starformation. D) The stars lock up material in their cores (like White Dwarf and Neutron Stars) meaning they can act as gravitational seeds for future starformation.arrow_forwardAn astronomer observed the motions of some galaxies. Based on his observations, he made the following statements. Which one of them is most likely to be false? Take Hubble's constant to be 67 km/s/Mpc. A. A galaxy observed to be moving away from us at a speed of 70 km/s is at a distance of about 1 Mpc from us. B. A galaxy observed to be moving away from us at a speed of 700 km/s is at a distance of about 10 Mpc from us. C. A galaxy observed to be moving away from us at a speed of 7000 km/s is at a distance of about 100 Mpc from us. D. A galaxy observed to be moving away from us at a speed of 70000 km/s is at a distance of about 1 Gpc from us. Is the answer D? Thank you!arrow_forwardThe present number density of electrons in the Universe is the same as that of protons, about 0.2 m-3. Consider a time long before the formation of the microwave background, when the scale factor was x times smaller than its present value. What was the number density of electrons then? Value: x = 12×106arrow_forward
- Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based TextPhysicsISBN:9781133104261Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningStars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399944Author:Michael A. SeedsPublisher:Cengage LearningFoundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning