Observing Space
This instrument allows scientists to observe distant objects in the universe.
What is a telescope?
This is the galaxy that contains our solar system.
What is the Milky Way?
The Doppler effect describes a change in this property of sound or light waves as the source and observer move relative to one another.
What is frequency?
The universe is approximately this old.
What is 13.8 billion years?
This invisible material makes up approximately 27% of the universe.
What is dark matter?
Different telescopes can observe different parts of this spectrum.
What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
These are the three major galaxy shapes discussed in class.
What are spiral, elliptical, and irregular?
Of radio waves and gamma rays, these have the higher frequency.
What are gamma rays?
The matter and energy of the early universe were condensed into this extremely hot and dense state.
What is a singularity?
This mysterious component makes up approximately 68% of the universe.
What is dark energy?
This telescope, launched in 2021, observes mostly infrared radiation.
What is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)?
This type of galaxy is flat and disk-shaped with arms extending from its center.
What is a spiral galaxy?
When light waves become stretched, astronomers call it this.
What is redshift?
About 100 million years after the Big Bang, gravity caused gas and dust to form these objects.
What are the first stars?
We cannot see dark matter directly, but we know it exists because of how it interacts with these large structures.
What are stars and galaxies?
JWST orbits approximately this far from Earth.
What is 1.5 million kilometers?
These galaxies have an oblong shape, lack arms, and tend to contain older red stars.
What are elliptical galaxies?
When light waves become compressed, astronomers call it this.
What is blueshift?
Edwin Hubble discovered that the farther away a galaxy is, the ______ it is moving away from us.
What is faster?
Stars near the centers and edges of spiral galaxies were observed moving at approximately the same ______.
What is speed?
Explain why astronomers benefit from observing the same object using visible, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths.
Different wavelengths reveal different features; combining them provides a more comprehensive view of the object.
Gravitational interactions between galaxies can pull them out of shape, often producing this type of galaxy.
What is an irregular galaxy? Galaxies
Astronomers observe a distant galaxy whose spectral fingerprint is redshifted. This is what they can infer about the galaxy's motion.
It is moving away from us. Doppler Effect
Name the three major pieces of evidence for the Big Bang discussed in class.
What are expansion/redshift, cosmic microwave radiation, and nucleosynthesis? The Big Bang
Scientists use this force's effects on visible matter to infer the presence of dark matter.
What is gravity?