Lecture 35 – Extragalactic Astronomy Summary so far DistanceWhat you encounter ~1 MpcGalaxies of local group ~ few MpcNeighbor small groups 20 MpcVirgo cluster, p601 Every 50 – 100 MpcOther rich clusters 1000 MpcVoids, filaments, walls > 1000 MpcStill more
More general formula for the redshift Reason: If d = 1000 Mpc, then v = H 0 d gives v = 70,000 km/sec = 0.25 c. More distant galaxies have v > c? What’s up? Figure 24.3
An interlude…Radio Astronomy…will make sense later “To remind you of what you already know….” Radio astronomy = study of universe with EM waves having wavelength from about 1 millimeter to 50 meters Comparison: optical astronomy studies wavelengths between 4E-07 to 7E-07 meters
The Radio Sky Radio sources – many associated with giant elliptical galaxies
Radio Galaxies, e.g. 3C296 Radio galaxies “shine” by a mechanism called synchrotron radiation
What is synchrotron radiation? Accelerated electrons radiate EM waves DEMO
History of Radio Astronomy, circa 1960 Some of the brightest radio sources, 3C48, 3C273, did not seem to be associated with galaxies, but with star-like objects
Spectra of these sources showed highly redshifted lines great distances Z = (w-w 0 )/w 0 = 0.16, 0.48, 1.7, 4.42 !! Quasar = Quasi-Stellar Radio Sources
With Hubble Space Telescope, we have imaged Quasars
Summary of Quasar Characteristics Clearly are a brilliant, energetic phenomenon in centers of galaxies Quasars are very distant. We see them as they were long ago Let’s look at the distribution of quasar redshifts
Question: what does this mean? 7236 quasars
The slide with no name