Assignment 4: Scale of the Universe

(Due: Week of 4 April 2022)

Instructions: Show each step of your calculations. Define the symbols you use. Lay
out your arguments logically and in full.

1. Slipher first established that spiral galaxies are rotating. The figure below shows a
slit spectrum of the spiral galaxy NGC 598. Which side (top or bottom) of the galaxy
is rotating towards, and which side is rotating away, from us? [5]

2. The brightest line in the spectrum of NGC 598 as shown above is the Hα line.
Compute the apparent rotation velocity of the galaxy; does this value correspond to
the actual rotation velocity? [10]

3. Travelling in a straight line without being absorbed and reemitted, compute how
long it would take for light to travel from the center of the Sun to the surface. [5]

4. Why is a large temperature gradient required to promote convection? Consider

what happens when a local parcel of gas above the Earth’s surface is heated. Hint: To
rise buoyantly, the density of the gas parcel has to be lower than that of the
surrounding gas. As the gas parcel rises, it expands and cools. The density of the
surrounding gas also decreases with height. [20]
5. Compare, from the lecture notes, the light curve of the Cepheid variable V1 in the
Great Andromeda Nebula measured by Hubble with the period-brightness relationship
measured by Leavitt for Cepheid variables in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).
How much further is the Great Andromeda Nebula compared with the SMC? How
does your answer compare with the relative distances determined from modern day
measurements of distances to the SMC and the Andromeda galaxy? [20]

6. Compare, from the lecture notes, the light curve of the Cepheid variable V1 in the
Great Andromeda Nebula measured by Hubble with the modern period-luminosity
relationship for Cepheid variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Compute the
distance to the Andromeda galaxy adopting a distance to the LMC of 50 kpc. [20]

7. What is the value of the Hubble constant as originally measured by Hubble in the
figure below? The solid line is the best fit to measurements for all 24 galaxies (solid
circles), whereas the dashed line is the best fit to measurements for the same galaxies
grouped into 9 groups (open circles). [10]

8. Show images (on one page) of the 24 spiral nebulae that Hubble used to make the
Hubble diagram. Which of these spiral nebulae are galaxies in the Local Group (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group)? [20]

9. Compute, for a Hubble constant of 70 km/s Mpc-1, the increase in distance from
the Earth to the Moon owing to the expansion of space over a human lifetime (100
yr). For comparison, owing to tidal interactions, the Moon is receding from the Earth
at a rate of 3.8 cm/yr. [10]
10. Compute, for a Hubble constant of 70 km/s Mpc-1, the increase in distance from
the Earth to the Sun owing to the expansion of space over the age of the Sun (5 Gyr).
[10]

11. Measuring the Hubble constant was one of the three key projects for the HST.
What were the other two? [10]