RANDY L. PHELPS

This is the Galaxies Web Assignment

For this assignment, please look through the "lecture" notes for the "Galaxies".  These notes contain the material, in condensed form, that I will expect you to become familiar with.  I am sure you will have questions about the material, especially since it is presented in the form of lecture notes.  To help you fill in the blanks, check out the following web sites:

Upon completion of this web assignment, you should be comfortable with the following material:

• What are galaxies?
• How was it shown that we live in a galaxy?
• What evidence exists for supermassive black holes in the centers of some galaxies?

Upon completion of this web assignment, you should be able to answer these, and similar questions:

• Why is there a band of light in the sky that we call "The Milky Way"?
• What is the relation to the band of light in the sky ("The Milky Way"), and the Milky Way Galaxy?
• What are "nebulae"?
• What are "Cepheid Variables", and why are they useful?
• What are globular star clusters?
• What does the fact that the Sun does not lie at the center of the distribution of globular clusters tell us?
• What is the closest galaxy, like our own, to us, and how far is it?
• What are the basic types of galaxies?
• What are the basic characteristics of the tyes of galaxies?
• What is the source of energy within most active galaxies?
• What was Dan Rather's "Cosmic Wiggle in Space"?
• Does the Milky Way contain a supermassive black hole?