A102_Lecture1_2022

Astronomy 102.
3:
Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology
● Your (reasonably friendly) neighborhood

Professor: Rainer Dick
http://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/RDick
E-mail: rainer.dick@usask.ca
Astronomy 102.3:
Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology
● Course website:
- Canvas website under paws.usask.ca
● Syllabus:
- on Canvas
● No late course enrollments in ASTR 102:

- I have two large courses to teach this term.
Therefore I will not accept late course enrollments
(i.e. enrollment after Sept. 15) in ASTR 102.
Required Course Material (available from the bookstore):
Mastering Astronomy with Pearson eText

– Standalone Access Card
Pearson.
Corresponding bookstore website:

https://shop.usask.ca/CourseSearch/?course[]=UOFS,202209,PHYS,ASTR102,01
UOFS,202209,PHYS,ASTR102,01&
Once you have the access code from the bookstore register through the “MyLab
and Mastering” link on our Canvas website.
Textbook embedded with the Mastering Astronomy website as eText:
Bennett/Donahue/Schneider/Voit:
The Cosmic Perspective
Pearson, 9th edition
Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
1. A Modern View of the Universe
Our goals for learning:
• What is our place in the universe?
• How can we know what the universe was like in
the past?
• Can we see the entire universe?
• How did we come to be?
What is our place in the universe?
A Cosmic Inventory
Stars, Planets, Moons,

Asteroids, Comets,
Solar System (or Star System),
Nebulae,
Galaxies,
Galaxy Groups, Galaxy Clusters,
Universe
Star
• A large, glowing ball of gas that generates heat
and light through nuclear fusion
A visible-light photograph of the Sun’s surface. The dark splotches are

sunspots—each large enough to swallow several Earths.
Planet
Mars Neptune
• A moderately large object that orbits a star; it shines by

reflected light. Planets may be rocky, icy, or gaseous in
composition.
Moon (or Satellite)
• An object that orbits a planet
Ganymede (orbits Jupiter)

Asteroid
A relatively small and rocky object that
orbits a star
Comet
• A relatively small and icy object that orbits a star
Solar (Star) System
• A star and all the material that orbits it, including its planets
and moons
Nebula
• An interstellar cloud of gas and/or dust
Astronomical Distance Units
• Astronomical Unit (AU)
– average distance between the Earth and the
Sun (150 million kilometers = 93 million miles)
• Light-year (ly or lyr)
– The distance that light can travel in 1 year
– A distance measurement, not a time
measurement
– About 10 trillion kilometers (6 trillion miles)
Nebula
Where to find the Orion nebula
The Orion nebula is
about 1350 light
years away and
about 13 light years
wide.
It is a star forming
region.
(Other names for the

Orion nebula are
M42 and NGC 1976)
Galaxy
A great island of stars in space, all held together
by gravity and orbiting a common center
M31, the great galaxy

in Andromeda
Where to find the
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda
Galaxy is about
2.5 million light
years away.
It will collide with

the Milky Way
Galaxy in about 4
billion
M31, the years.
great galaxy
in Andromeda
Galaxy Group: A gravitationally bound group of up
to a few dozen galaxies, typically a few million light
years across.
The
Local Group
of galaxies
Picture credit:
Universitäts-
Sternwarte
Erlangen,
based on
E.K. Grebel,
IAU Symp. 192
(1999) 17-38.
Galaxy Cluster
A group of a
few hundred
to a few
thousand
galaxies.
Abell 1689,
about 2.2
billion light
years away.
Picture credit:
NASA, ESA,
L. Bradley et al.
How can we know what the universe was
like in the past?
• Light travels at a finite speed (300,000 km/s).
Destination Light travel time

Moon 1 second
Sun 8 minutes
Sirius 8 years
Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million years
• Thus, we see objects as they were in the past:
The farther away we look in distance,
the further back we look in time.
Example:
This photo shows the Andromeda Galaxy as it looked about
2.5 million years ago.
Question: When will we

be able to see what it
looks like now?
Answer: In about
2.5 million years.
• At great distances, we see objects as they were
when the universe was much younger.
Can we see the entire universe?
No, we cannot see the entire universe, because the universe

is only about 14 billion years old. Therefore light can have
travelled through the universe for at most 14 billion years.
Everything that is farther away than 14 billion light-years
is therefore too far away for us to see it.
How did We Come to be?
• The Universe is
expanding
• All galaxies are moving
away from each other
• Tracing this motion
backward leads a point
where the expansion
began, referred to as the
Big Bang
Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Gravity drives collapse

of matter into galaxies
and galaxy clusters
• Most galaxies formed
within a few billion
years after the Big
Bang
• Gravity drives collapse of clouds

of gas and dust to form stars and
planets
• Stars go through "life cycles"
• Born when gravity compresses

the material to dense enough
state for nuclear fusion
• Dying after no more fuel is left for

fusion
• In the beginning there were only

very light elements, mostly hydrogen
and helium and traces of lithium,
beryllium and boron.
• All the heavier elements like carbon,

oxygen etc. were bred by nuclear
fusion in stars and expelled into
space when the stars died.
• Elements heavier than iron were

born in supernova explosions and
neutron star mergers.
What have We Learned?
• How did we come to be?
– The Big Bang produced hydrogen and helium.
– All other elements were constructed from H and He in stars
and then recycled into new star systems, including our solar
system.
– We are made of elements produced in the nuclear fusion
within the cores of stars.
To be continued…
• The Universe is
expanding
• All galaxies are moving
away from each other
• Tracing this motion
backward leads a point
where the expansion
began, referred to as the
Big Bang
• Gravity drives collapse

of matter into galaxies
and galaxy clusters
• Most galaxies formed
within a few billion
years after the Big
Bang
• Gravity drives collapse of clouds

of gas and dust to form stars and
planets
• Stars go through "life cycles"

• Born when gravity compresses
the material to dense enough
state for nuclear fusion
• Dying after no more fuel is left for

fusion
• In the beginning there were only

very light elements, mostly hydrogen
and helium (and traces of lithium,
beryllium and boron).
• All the heavier elements like carbon,
oxygen etc. were bred by nuclear
fusion in stars and expelled into
space when the stars died.
• Elements heavier than iron were
born in supernova explosions and
neutron star mergers.
1.3 Spaceship Earth
• How is Earth moving in our solar system?
• How is our solar system moving in the Milky
Way Galaxy?
• How do galaxies move within the universe?
• Are we ever sitting still?
How is Earth moving in our solar system?
• Contrary to our perception, we are not “sitting still.”
• We are moving with Earth in several ways, and at
surprisingly fast speeds.
The Earth rotates

around its axis once
every day.
Earth orbits the Sun (revolves) once every year:
• at an average distance of 1 AU ≈ 150 million kilometers.
• with Earth’s axis tilted by 23.5º (pointing to Polaris)
It rotates in the same direction it orbits, counterclockwise as viewed

from above the North Pole.
How is our Sun moving in in the Milky Way Galaxy?
Our Sun moves randomly relative to the other stars in the local solar
neighborhood…
typical relative speeds of more than 70,000 km/h (20 km/s)
but stars are so far away that we cannot easily notice their motion
… and our sun orbits

the galaxy every 230
million years.
→ our speed of
rotation around the
galaxy is about
800,000 km/h
Dipole in the cosmic microwave background
from Doppler effect:
We move at a speed of about

370 km/s ≈ 1,330,000 km/h
through the cosmic rest frame.
Include Sun’s motion around

the center of the galaxy and
motion of the galaxy
® Our local group of galaxies
moves at a speed of about
627 km/s ≈ 2,260,000 km/h
through the cosmic rest frame.
Pictures courtesy of COBE/NASA

How do galaxies move within the universe?
Galaxies are carried along with the expansion of the
universe. But how did Hubble figure out that the universe
is expanding?
The astronomers Vesto Slipher (1917),
Carl Wirtz (1918), Knut Lundmark (1920) and
Edwin Hubble (1929) noticed that
• Most galaxies outside our Local Group are
moving away from us.
• The more distant the galaxy, the faster it
is receding from us.
Conclusion: We live in an expanding universe.

Are we ever sitting still?
We are moving at a speed of about 1,330,000 km/h through the cosmic rest
frame.
What have we learned?
• How is Earth moving in our solar system?
– It rotates on its axis once a day and orbits
the Sun at a distance of 1 AU = 150
million kilometers.
• How is our solar system moving in the Milky
Way Galaxy?
– Stars in the Local Neighborhood move
randomly relative to one another and orbit
the center of the Milky Way in about 230
million years.
• How do galaxies move within the universe?
– Most galaxies beyond the Local Group
are moving away from us with the
expansion of the universe: the more
distant they are, the faster they’re moving.
• Are we ever sitting still?
– No! Earth is constantly in motion, even
though we don’t notice it.
1.4 How has the study of astronomy
affected human history?
• The Copernican revolution showed that Earth
was not the center of the universe (Chapter 3).
• Kepler’s laws of planetary motion (Chapter 3)
led to Newton’s laws of motion and gravity
(Chapter 4, not discussed in our class
→ Newton’s laws are discussed in PHYS 115
if you want to learn about them).
• Newton’s laws laid the foundation for the
industrial revolution.
• Modern discoveries are continuing to expand
our “cosmic perspective.”
3.1 The Ancient Roots of Science
• In what ways do all humans use scientific
thinking?
• How did astronomical observations benefit
ancient societies?
• What did ancient civilizations achieve in
astronomy?
In what ways do all humans use
scientific thinking?
• Scientific thinking is based on everyday
ideas of observation and trial-and-error
experiments.
How did astronomical observations
benefit ancient societies?
• Keeping track of time and seasons
– for practical purposes, including
agriculture
– for religious and ceremonial purposes
• Aid to navigation
What did ancient civilizations achieve
in astronomy?
• Tracking the seasons

• Daily timekeeping
• Calendar
• Monitoring lunar cycles
• Monitoring planets and stars
• Predicting eclipses
• And more…
Ancient people of central Africa (6500 BC)
could predict seasons (and therefore how much
precipitation they should get under normal
conditions) from the orientation of the crescent
Moon.
England: Stonehenge (completed around 1550 B.C.)
England: Stonehenge (1550 B.C.)
The Nebra sky disc (found near Nebra, Germany) is dated to
around 2100-1700 BC. It is the oldest known depiction of
astronomical phenomena and contains golden symbols for
• the Sun,
• the Moon,
• the Pleiades,
• one angular arc
(originally two arcs) for
the angle between the
sunsets at summer and
winter solstices near
Nebra.
Diameter 30 cm, mass 2.2 kg.

Materials:
Bronze (copper and tin), gold.
Picture credit:
© State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Juraj Lipták.
Mexico: Model of the Templo Mayor
SW United States: The “Sun Dagger” of the Ancestral Pueblo People
marks the summer solstice.
Sun Dagger of the Ancestral
Pueplo People, Fajada Butte,
Chaco Canyon (New Mexico)
Crab nebula, the remnant
of supernova SN 1054,
about 6500 light years
away.
It was observed in 1054

by Chinese Astronomers
(and possibly also
Pueblo Astronomers?)
Picture courtesy of
ESA/NASA/
Hubble Space Telescope
(O-III, O-I, S-II emissions;
actual colors of the 12 light years
emission lines:
green, red, red)
• How did astronomical observations benefit
ancient societies?
– Keeping track of time and seasons;
navigation.
• What did ancient civilizations achieve
in astronomy?
– To tell the time of day and year, to track
cycles of the Moon, to observe planets
and stars. Ancient structures aided in
astronomical observations.
3.2 Ancient Greek Science
• Why does modern science trace its roots
to the Greeks?
• How did the Greeks explain planetary
motion?
• How was Greek knowledge preserved
through history?
Most of our mathematical and scientific heritage
originated with the civilizations of the Middle
East.
Why does modern science trace its roots to
the Greeks?
• Greeks were the first

people known to make
models (or theories) of
nature.
• They tried to find
rational explanations for
patterns in nature.
Greek geocentric model (c. 400 B.C.)

Special Topic: Eratosthenes Measures Earth (ca. 240 B.C.)
Measurements:
Syene to Alexandria
distance ≈ 5000 stadia, Noon at
angle = 7° summer
solstice
Calculate circumference of Earth:

7/360 (circum. Earth) = 5000 stadia
circum. Earth = 5000 360/7 stadia ≈ 250,000 stadia.
Compare to modern value (≈ 40,100 km):
Greek stadium ≈ 1/6 km 250,000 stadia ≈ 42,000 km
→ Eratosthenes’ measurement was off by only 5%!
Ancient Greek scientists knew that Earth is round and how big it is.
How did the Greeks explain planetary motion?
Underpinnings of the Greek geocentric model:
• Earth at the center of the universe

• Heavens must be “perfect”:
Objects moving on perfect spheres
or in perfect circles.
Plato (~424-348 BC)
Aristotle (~384-322 BC)

But this made it difficult to explain apparent
retrograde motion of planets…
Review: Over a period of 10 weeks, Mars appears to stop,

back up, then go forward again.
The most sophisticated
geocentric model was that of
Ptolemy (A.D. 100-170) —
the Ptolemaic model:
• Sufficiently accurate to
remain in use for 1,500 years.
• Arabic translation of
Ptolemy’s work named
Almagest (“the greatest
compilation”)
Ptolemy
So how does the Ptolemaic model explain retrograde motion?
Planets really do go backward in this model..
However, Aristarchus of Samos (~ 310-230 B.C)
had already proposed a heliocentric model of the
Solar System. He also made estimates for the sizes
and distances of the Sun and the Moon.
• Why does modern science trace its roots to
the Greeks?
– They developed models of nature and
emphasized that the predictions of
models should agree with observations.
• How did Ptolemy explain planetary motion?
– The Ptolemaic model had each planet
move on a small circle whose center
moves around Earth on a larger circle.
3.3 The Copernican Revolution
• How did Copernicus, Tycho, and Kepler
challenge the Earth-centered model?
• What are Kepler’s three laws of planetary
motion?
• How did Galileo solidify the Copernican
revolution?
• How did Newton explain Kepler’s laws?
How did Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler
challenge the Earth-centered model?
• Proposed a Sun-centered model

(published 1543)
• Used model to determine layout of
solar system (planetary distances in
AU)
But . . .
• The model was no more accurate than
the Ptolemaic model in predicting
planetary positions, because it still
used perfect circles and epicycles.
Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473-1543)
• Compiled the most accurate
(one arcminute) naked eye
measurements ever made of
planetary positions.
• Still could not detect stellar
parallax, and thus still thought
Earth must be at center of
solar system (but recognized
that other planets go around
Sun).
• Hired Kepler, who used Tycho’s
observations to discover the
truth about planetary motion.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
• Kepler first tried to match
Tycho’s observations with
circular orbits
• But an 8-arcminute
discrepancy led him eventually
to ellipses.
“If I had believed that we could

ignore these eight minutes [of arc], I
would have patched up my hypothesis
accordingly. But, since it was not
permissible to ignore, those eight
Johannes Kepler minutes pointed the road to a
(1571-1630) complete reformation in astronomy.”
What is an ellipse?
An ellipse looks like an elongated circle.

What are Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion?
Kepler’s First Law: (1609)

The orbit of each planet around the Sun is an ellipse
with the Sun at one focus.
Kepler’s Second Law: (1609)
As a planet moves around its orbit, it sweeps out
equal areas in equal times.
This means that a planet travels faster when it is nearer to the Sun
and slower when it is farther from the Sun.
Kepler’s Third Law (1619)
Graphical version of Kepler’s Third Law
Shapes of elliptical orbits in the solar system
Mercury b/a=0.979
Venus b/a=0.99998
Earth b/a=0.9999
Mars b/a=0.996
Jupiter b/a=0.999
Saturn b/a=0.998
Uranus b/a=0.999
Neptune b/a=0.9999
An ellipse with b/a=0.8
Pluto b/a=0.969 The eccentricity is
e=c/a=0.6
Eris b/a=0.897 for this ellipse.
How did Galileo solidify the Copernican
revolution?
Galileo overcame major objections to the
Copernican view. Three key objections
rooted in Aristotelian view were:
1. Earth could not be moving

because objects in air would be
left behind.
2. Non-circular orbits are not
“perfect” as heavens should be.
3. If Earth were really orbiting
Sun, we’d detect stellar parallax.
Overcoming the first objection (nature of motion):
Galileo’s experiments showed that objects in air would stay

with Earth as it moves.
• Aristotle thought that all objects naturally come to rest.
• Galileo showed that objects will stay in motion unless a
force acts to slow them down (nowadays this is called
Newton’s first law of motion, but Galileo knew this
already).
• Galileo likely also realized already that gravity would
keep objects bound to Earth’s surface.
Overcoming the second objection (heavenly perfection):
• Brahe’s observations of a comet

and a supernova already
challenged this idea.
• Using his telescope, Galileo saw:
- Sunspots on the Sun
(“imperfections”)
- Mountains and valleys on the
Moon (proving it is not a
perfect sphere).
He did this in 1609.
Overcoming the third objection (parallax):
• Tycho thought he had measured stellar distances, so lack

of parallax seemed to rule out an orbiting Earth.
• Galileo showed stars must be much farther thanTycho
thought – in part by using his telescope to see the Milky
Way is countless individual stars.
• If stars were much farther away, then lack of detectable
parallax was no longer so troubling.
In 1610, Galileo also saw four
moons orbiting Jupiter, proving that
not all objects orbit Earth.
(Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto)
Galileo’s observations of phases of Venus in 1610
proved that it orbits the Sun and not Earth.
The Catholic Church ordered Galileo to recant his
claim that Earth orbits the Sun in 1633 and his
book on the subject was included with the
Vatican’s index of banned books.
Galileo’s book was removed from the Vatican’s
index of banned books in 1824.
Galileo was formally vindicated by the Vatican in
1992.
•
• What was Galileo’s role in solidifying the
Copernican revolution?
– His experiments and observations overcame the

remaining objections to the Sun-centered solar
system model.
Fast forward (almost 80 years) to
Newton 1687: Explanation of Kepler’s laws
• Realized that the same
physical laws that operate on
Earth also operate in the
heavens
Þ one universe
• Discovered laws of motion and
gravity
• Force = mass x acceleration
(if mass is constant)
• And…
Sir Isaac Newton

(1642–1727)
What determines the strength of gravity?
The universal law of gravitation:
1. Every mass attracts every other mass.
2. Attraction is directly proportional to the
product of their masses.
3. Attraction is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between their centers.
Consequences of Newton’s law of gravity:
• Kepler’s first two laws apply to all orbiting
objects, not just planets.
• Ellipses are not the only
orbital paths. Orbits can
be:
– bound (ellipses)
– unbound
• parabola
• hyperbola
Prologue to Chapter 5 on Light and Matter:
Reading Messages from the Cosmos
- A brief introduction to the concepts of light, energy,
and power
Oscillating charges induce both oscillating
electric fields and oscillating magnetic fields
– electromagnetic waves
Energy
• Is the ability to do something (usually denoted as “work”).
• It is a form of currency of Nature: Whenever you want to

do something, you have to spend energy: Lifting a grocery
bag costs energy, thinking costs energy, every heartbeat
costs energy…
You replenish your body’s energy reservoirs through the
consumption of food.
• Units: Joule (J), electron Volt (eV),

1 J = 6.2x1018 eV, 1 eV = 1.6x10-19 J.
The energy in food is often measured in “food calories Cal
= 1000 calories = 1 kcal”. 1 Cal = 1 kcal = 4184 J.
Examples for Energy
• Car of mass 1 metric tonne (1000 kg) travelling at a speed
of 100 km/h has a kinetic (motion) energy of 386 kJ.
• Daily adult energy intake from food is roughly 10,500 kJ, i.e.
roughly 2,500 kcal = 2,500 Cal.
• Operating for 1 hour at a metabolic rate of 100 J/s = 100 W
burns 360 kJ. Operating a full day at 100 W burns 8640 kJ.
• Photons in sunlight have an energy of about 2 eV.
• Highest energy subatomic particles produced by humans:
Protons at the Large Hadron Collider with energy 6.8 TeV =
1.1x10-6 J.
• Highest energy subatomic particles that have been
observed in nature have energies of order 109 TeV = 1021
eV ~ 160 J. These extremely high-energetic subatomic
particles have been observed in cosmic rays.
Examples for Energy (cont’d)
• Electric energy supplied by SaskPower in 2021-2022 was almost 23.3
TWh = 8.34 x 1013 kJ.
• Heating energy in gas supplied to over 400,000 customers by

SaskEnergy in 2021-2022 was 2.50 x 1014 kJ.
• Peak daily flow of heating energy through gas supplied by SaskEnergy:

1.65 x 1012 kJ (January 5, 2022).
• Estimated energy in global arsenal of nuclear warheads: Maybe (?)

about 1300 Megatons of TNT equivalent = 5.4 x 1015 kJ (these
estimates are very uncertain).
• Energy of impact of asteroid with a diameter of about 10 km (density

about 2 g/cm3 → mass about 1012 metric tonnes) with impact velocity of
20 km/s: 2.1 x 1020 kJ = 5.0 x 107 Megatons equivalent of TNT ~
38,500 times the estimated energy in the global arsenal of nuclear
warheads.
Power = Energy used or produced per time
• Unit: Watt = Joule per second: 1W = 1J/s
• Basal metabolic rates in humans (i.e. energy
consumption rate at rest): 50-120 W.
• Production capacity of SaskPower: 3.968 GW =
3.968 x 109 W (5.246 GW including independent
providers).
• Peak demand of electrical power in Saskatchewan:
3.91 GW on December 30, 2021 (about 3.3 kW per
person!).
• Power delivered in electromagnetic radiation (light)
from the Sun at Earth’s location: 1.37 kW/m2.
Chapter 5
Light and Matter:
Reading Messages from the Cosmos
5.1 Light in Everyday Life
• How do we experience light?
• How do light and matter interact?
How do we experience light?
• The warmth of sunlight tells us that light is a form
of energy.
• We can measure the flow of energy (i.e. energy
delivered per time) in light in units of Watts:
1 Watt = 1 W = 1 J/s = 1 Joule/second.
• Side remark: The Sun generates so much energy
that we receive about 1.37 kW/m2 in
electromagnetic radiation at Earth’s orbit, i.e. 3
m2 of sunlit area on Earth’s orbit receives plenty
enough energy to cover a single human’s need
for electric power if we could convert it with 100%
efficiency into electric energy and store the
energy.
Colors of Light
• White light is made up of many different colors.

How do light and matter
interact?
• Emission
• Absorption
• Transmission
– Transparent objects transmit light.
– Opaque objects block (absorb) light.
• Reflection/scattering
Reflection and Scattering
Mirror reflects light Movie screen scatters light in all

in a particular directions.
direction.
Interactions of Light with Matter
Interactions between light and matter determine the

appearance of everything around us.
Thought Question
Why is a rose red?
a) The rose absorbs red light.

b) The rose transmits red light.
c) The rose emits red light.
d) The rose reflects red light.
Thought Question
Why is a rose red?
a) The rose absorbs red light.

b) The rose transmits red light.
c) The rose emits red light.
d) The rose reflects red light.
• How do we experience light?
– Light is a form of energy.
– Light comes in many colors that combine
to form white light.
• How do light and matter interact?
– Matter can emit light, absorb light,
transmit light, and reflect (or scatter) light.
– Interactions between light and matter
determine the appearance of everything
we see.
5.2 Properties of Light
• What is light?
• What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
What is light?
• Light can act either like a wave or like a
particle.
• Particles of light are called photons.

Waves
• A wave is a
pattern of
motion that
can carry
energy without
carrying matter
along with it.
Properties of Waves
• Wavelength is the distance between two wave

peaks.
• Frequency is the number of times per second
that a wave vibrates up and down.
Wave speed = wavelength frequency
Light: Electromagnetic Waves
• A light wave is a vibration of electric and

magnetic fields.
• Light interacts with charged particles through
these electric and magnetic fields.
Wavelength and Frequency
wavelength frequency = speed of light =

constant
Particles of Light
• Particles of light are called photons.
• Each photon has a wavelength and a
frequency.
• The energy of a photon depends on its
frequency.
Wavelength, Frequency, Speed, and Energy
l f = c
l = wavelength, f = frequency
c = 3.00 108 m/s = speed of light
E=h f = photon energy

h = 6.626 10-34 Joule s
(Planck’s constant)
You don’t need to memorize equations, but

please remember:
High frequency high energy small wavelength
Small frequency small energy large wavelength
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Thought Question
The higher the photon energy,
a) the longer its wavelength.

b) the shorter its wavelength.
c) energy is independent of wavelength.
Thought Question
The higher the photon energy,
a) the longer its wavelength.

b) the shorter its wavelength.
c) energy is independent of wavelength.
• What is light?
– Light can behave like either a wave or a
particle.
– A light wave is a vibration of electric and
magnetic fields.
– Light waves have a wavelength and a
frequency.
– Photons are particles of light.
• What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
– Human eyes cannot see most forms of
light.
– The entire range of wavelengths of light is
known as the electromagnetic spectrum.
5.3 Properties of Matter
• What is the structure of matter?
• What are the phases of matter
• How is energy stored in atoms?
What is the structure of
matter?
Atomic Terminology
• Atomic number = # of protons in nucleus
• Atomic mass number = # of protons + neutrons
• Molecules: consist of two or more atoms (H2O,

CO2)
Atomic Terminology
• Isotope: same # of protons but different # of
neutrons (4He, 3He)
What are the phases of matter?
• Familiar phases:
– Solid (e.g. ice)
– Liquid (e.g. water)
– Gas (e.g. water vapor)
– A not so familiar phase: Plasma
(atoms broken into ions and electrons)
• Phases of same material behave
differently because increase in
temperature breaks chemical and
physical bonds in materials.
Phase Changes
• Ionization: stripping of
electrons, changing atoms into
plasma
• Dissociation: breaking of
molecules into atoms
• Evaporation: breaking of
flexible chemical bonds,
changing liquid into gas
• Melting: breaking of rigid
chemical bonds, changing
solid into liquid
Phases and Pressure
• Phase of a substance depends on

both temperature and pressure.
• Often more than one phase is present.
How is energy stored in
atoms?
Excited states
Ground state
• Electrons in atoms are restricted to

particular energy levels.
Energy Level Transitions
• The only
allowed
changes in
energy are
those
corresponding
to a transition
between
energy levels.
\ / \ | /
Not allowed Allowed
• What is the structure of matter?
– Matter is made of atoms, which consist of a
nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by
a cloud of electrons.
• What are the phases of matter?
– Adding heat to a substance changes its phase
by breaking chemical bonds.
– As temperature rises, a substance transforms
from a solid to a liquid to a gas, then the
molecules can dissociate into atoms.
– Stripping of electrons from atoms (ionization)
turns the substance into a plasma.
• How is energy stored in atoms?

– The energies of electrons in atoms
correspond to particular energy levels.
– Atoms gain and lose energy only in
amounts corresponding to particular
changes in energy levels.
5.4 Learning from Light
• What are the three basic types of spectra?
• How does light tell us what things are
made of?
• How does light tell us the temperatures of
planets and stars?
• How do we interpret an actual spectrum?
What are the three basic types
of spectra?
Spectra of astrophysical objects are usually combinations of

these three basic types.
Three Types of Spectra:
1. Continuous Spectrum
• The spectrum of a common (incandescent)

light bulb spans all visible wavelengths,
without interruption.
2. Emission Line Spectrum
• A thin or low-density cloud of gas emits light

only at specific wavelengths that depend on
its composition and temperature, producing a
spectrum with bright emission lines.
3. Absorption Line Spectrum
• A cloud of gas between us and a light bulb

can absorb light of specific wavelengths,
leaving dark absorption lines in the spectrum.
of spectra?

• Continuous spectrum: has continuously
varying intensity distribution as a function
of wavelength or frequency.
Emitted by dense materials (e.g. dense
gas or solid).
• Emission line spectrum: has emission lines
for particular wavelengths or frequencies.
Emitted by thin gas.
• Absorption line spectrum: has dark

absorption lines for particular wavelengths
or frequencies. Occurs if light is sent
through a thin gas.
5.4 Learning from Light
• What are the three basic types of spectra?
made of?
• How does light tell us the temperatures of
planets and stars?
• How do we interpret an actual spectrum?
of spectra?

1. Continuous Spectrum
• The spectrum of a common (incandescent)

light bulb spans all visible wavelengths,
without interruption.
2. Emission Line Spectrum
• A thin or low-density cloud of gas emits light

only at specific wavelengths that depend on
its composition and temperature, producing a
spectrum with bright emission lines.
3. Absorption Line Spectrum
• A cloud of gas between us and a light bulb

can absorb light of specific wavelengths,
leaving dark absorption lines in the spectrum.
of spectra?

How does light tell us what
things are made of?
Chemical Fingerprints
• Each type of atom
has a unique set
of energy levels.
• Each transition
corresponds to a
unique photon
energy,
frequency, and
wavelength.
Energy levels of hydrogen
• Downward transitions produce a unique pattern of
emission lines.
• Because those atoms can absorb photons with
those same energies, upward transitions produce a
pattern of absorption lines at the same
wavelengths.
• Each type of atom has a unique spectral

fingerprint.
• Observing the fingerprints in a spectrum tells

us which kinds of atoms are present.
Energy Levels of Molecules
• Molecules have additional energy levels

because they can vibrate and rotate.
Energy Levels of Molecules
• The large numbers of vibrational and rotational

energy levels can make the spectra of
molecules very complicated.
• Many of these molecular transitions are in the
infrared part of the spectrum.
How does light tell us the
temperatures of planets and stars?
Thermal Radiation
• Nearly all large or dense objects emit thermal

radiation, including stars, planets, you.
• An object’s thermal radiation spectrum depends

on only one property: its temperature.
Properties of Thermal Radiation
1. Hotter objects emit more light per area at all
frequencies.
2. Hotter objects emit photons with a higher average
energy: higher temperature → higher peak and more
towards blue.
→ We can use both position of the peak and total light output
per area to determine temperature of an object.
Thought Question
Which is hottest?
a) a blue star
b) a red star
c) a planet that emits infrared light
Thought Question
Which is hottest?
a) a blue star
b) a red star
c) a planet that emits infrared light
Thought Question
Why don’t we glow in the dark?
a) People do not emit any kind of light.
b) People only emit light that is invisible to our
eyes.
c) People are too small to emit enough light
for us to see.
d) People do not contain enough radioactive
material.
Thought Question
Why don’t we glow in the dark?
a) People do not emit any kind of light.
b) People only emit light that is invisible to
our eyes.
c) People are too small to emit enough light for
us to see.
d) People do not contain enough radioactive
material.
(The thermal radiation from people is infrared

radiation with a typical wavelength of order 10 µm
or a photon energy of order 100 meV.)
How do we interpret an actual
spectrum?
• By carefully studying the features in a

spectrum, we can learn a great deal
about the object that created it.
What is this object?
Reflected sunlight:
Continuous spectrum of
visible light is like the
Sun’s except that some of
the blue light has been
absorbed—object must
look red.
Thermal radiation:
Infrared spectrum peaks
at a wavelength
corresponding to a
temperature of 225 K.
Carbon dioxide:
Absorption lines are the
fingerprint of CO2 in the
atmosphere.
Ultraviolet emission lines:

Indicate a hot upper
atmosphere
Mars!
• What are the three basic type of
spectra?
– Continuous spectrum, emission line
spectrum, absorption line spectrum
made of?
– Each atom has a unique fingerprint.
– We can determine which atoms
something is made of by looking for their
fingerprints in the spectrum.
• How does light tell us the temperatures
of planets and stars?
– Nearly all large or dense objects emit a
continuous spectrum that depends on
temperature.
– The spectrum of that thermal radiation
tells us the object’s temperature.
• How do we interpret an actual
spectrum?
– By carefully studying the features in a
spectrum, we can learn a great deal
about the object that created it.
The Doppler Shift
• How does light tell us the speed of a
distant object?
• How does light tell us the rotation rate of
an object?
How does light tell us the speed
of a distant object?
Measuring the Shift
Stationary
Moving away
Away faster
Moving toward
Toward faster
Wavelength increases to the right
• We generally measure the Doppler effect from

shifts in the wavelengths of spectral lines.
Thought Question
I measure a spectral line in the lab at 500.7 nm. The
same line in a star has wavelength 502.8 nm. What can
I say about this star?
a) It is moving away from me.

b) It is moving toward me.
c) It has unusually long spectral lines.
Thought Question
I measure a spectral line in the lab at 500.7 nm. The
same line in a star has wavelength 502.8 nm. What can
I say about this star?
a) It is moving away from me.

b) It is moving toward me.
c) It has unusually long spectral lines.
Observed wavelength from the star larger than in the lab

→ light is redshifted
Opposite case:
Observed wavelength from the star smaller than in the lab
→ light is blueshifted
How does light tell us the
rotation rate of an object?
• Different Doppler
shifts from different
sides of a rotating
object spread out its
spectral lines.
(Line broadening due
to motion is called
“Doppler broadening”)
Spectrum of a Rotating Object
• Spectral lines are wider when an object

rotates faster.
• How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?
– The Doppler effect tells us how fast an object is
moving toward or away from us.
• Blueshift: objects moving toward us
• Redshift: objects moving away from us
• How does light tell us the rotation rate of an object?

– The width of an object’s spectral lines can tell us
how fast it is rotating.
Chapter 6
Telescopes: Portals of
Discovery
6.1 Eyes and Cameras: Everyday Light Sensors

• How does your eye form an image?
• How do we record images?
How does your eye
form an image?
Refraction
• Refraction is the
bending of light
when it passes
from one substance
into another.
• Your eye uses
refraction to focus
light.
Focusing Light
• Refraction can cause parallel light rays to converge to a

focus.
Image Formation
• The focal plane is where light from different directions comes into
focus.
• The image behind a single (convex) lens is actually upside-down!
Focusing Light
Digital
cameras
detect light
with charge-
coupled
devices
(CCDs).
• A camera focuses light like an eye and captures the image with a
detector.
• The CCD detectors in digital cameras are similar to those used in
modern telescopes.
• How does your eye form an image?
– It uses refraction to bend parallel light rays so
that they form an image.
– The image is in focus if the focal plane is at the
retina.
• How do we record images?
– Cameras focus light like your eye and record
the image with a detector.
– The detectors (CCDs) in digital cameras are
like those used on modern telescopes.
Chapter 6
Telescopes: Portals of Discovery
(continued)
© 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

6.2 Telescopes: Giant Eyes

• What are the two most important properties of a telescope?
• What are the two basic designs of telescopes?
• What do astronomers do with telescopes?

What are the two most important
properties of a telescope?
1. Light-collecting area: Telescopes with a larger
collecting area can gather a greater amount of light
in a shorter time.
2. Angular resolution: Telescopes that are larger are
capable of taking images with greater detail.

Light-Collecting Area

Angular Resolution
• ...is the minimum angular

separation that the telescope
can distinguish.

Angular Resolution
• The rings in this image of a
star come from
interference of light
waves.
• This limit on angular
resolution is known as the
diffraction limit.
• Large light collection area
also improves angular
resolution.
Close-up of a star from the Hubble

Space Telescope
What are the two basic designs of
telescopes?
• Refracting telescope: focuses light with lenses
• Reflecting telescope: focuses light with mirrors

Refracting Telescope
• Refracting
telescopes
need to be
very long,
with large,
heavy lenses.

Reflecting Telescope
• Reflecting telescopes can have much greater diameters.

• Most modern telescopes are reflectors.

Mirrors in Reflecting Telescopes
Twin Keck telescopes on Segmented 10-meter mirror of

Mauna Kea in Hawaii a Keck telescope

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory in Chile has four telescopes with
8.2 meter primary mirrors and four movable auxiliary telescopes with 1.8 meter mirrors, as well as two
telescopes with 4.1 m and 2.6 m mirrors.
Credits: ESO/B. Tafreshi

and ESO/M. Kornmesser/F. Kamphues
Next generation optical telescopes
(under construction, artist’s renderings)
The European Extremely Large Telescope

ELT (mirror diameter 39 meters)
The US-led Giant Magellan Telescope

GMT (mirror diameter 24.5 meters)
Both telescopes are under construction in

Chile with first light expected in 2025 (E-
ELT) and 2029 (GMT).
Next generation optical telescopes
(under construction, artist’s renderings)
The European Extremely Large Telescope

ELT
(mirror diameter 39 meters)
The US-led Giant Magellan Telescope

GMT (mirror diameter 24.5 meters)
Both telescopes are under construction in

Chile with first light expected in 2025 (E-
© 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. ELT) and 2029 (GMT).
What do astronomers do with
telescopes?
• Imaging: taking pictures of astronomical objects
(e.g. planets, stars, galaxies…)
• Spectroscopy: breaking light into spectra, i.e.
analyzing characteristic electromagnetic emission or
absorption features of astronomical objects.
• Timing: measuring how light output varies with time
(or more generally, how emission of electromagnetic
radiation varies with time).

Imaging
• Astronomical detectors
usually record only one color
of light at a time.
• Several images must be

combined to make full-color
pictures.

Imaging
• Astronomical detectors can record
forms of light our eyes can’t see.
• Color is sometimes used to
represent different energies of
non-visible light.
Supernova remnant N132D, about 180,000 light-years away, about 80 light-years across
Spectroscopy
• A spectrograph separates
the different wavelengths
of light before they hit the
detector.

Spectroscopy
• Graphing relative brightness
of light at each wavelength
shows the details in a
spectrum.

Timing
• A light curve represents a series of brightness

measurements made over a period of time.
• What are the two most important properties of a telescope?
– Collecting area determines how much light a telescope can
gather.
– Angular resolution is the minimum angular separation a
telescope can distinguish.
• What are the two basic designs of telescopes?
– Refracting telescopes focus light with lenses.
– Reflecting telescopes focus light with mirrors.
– The vast majority of professional telescopes are reflectors.

• What do astronomers do with telescopes?
– Imaging
– Spectroscopy
– Timing

6.3 Telescopes and the Atmosphere

• How does Earth’s atmosphere affect ground-based
observations?
• Why do we put telescopes into space?

How does Earth’s atmosphere affect ground-
based observations?
• The best ground-based sites for astronomical observing are:
– calm (not too windy)
– high (less atmosphere to see through)
– dark (far from city lights)
– dry (few cloudy nights)

Light Pollution
• Scattering of human-made light in the atmosphere is a

growing problem for astronomy.
Calm, High, Dark, Dry
• The best observing sites are

atop remote mountains in
hot, dry climate.
Summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Why do we put telescopes into space?

Transmission in Atmosphere
• Only radio and visible light pass easily through

Earth’s atmosphere.
• We need telescopes in space to observe other forms.
What have learned?
• How does Earth’s atmosphere affect ground-based
observations?
– Telescope sites are chosen to minimize the problems
of light pollution, atmospheric turbulence (→
“twinkling” of stars), and bad weather.
• Why do we put telescopes into space?
– Forms of light other than radio and visible do not
pass through Earth’s atmosphere.
– Also, much sharper images are possible because
there is no turbulence.

6.4 Telescopes Across the Spectrum

• How can we observe invisible light?
• What are the different kinds of telescopes?

How can we observe invisible light?
• A standard satellite dish is
essentially a telescope for
observing radio waves.

Radio Telescopes
• A radio telescope is like a giant
mirror that reflects radio waves to
a focus.
• The Arecibo radio telescope had a
diameter of about 300 meters.
(Damaged and dysfunctional since
December 2020.)

The FAST telescope in China is a radio telescope with a diameter of 500 meters
Infrared and Ultraviolet Telescopes
SOFIA (IR) Spitzer (IR)
• Infrared and ultraviolet light telescopes operate

like visible-light telescopes but need to be above
atmosphere to see all wavelengths.
X-Ray Telescopes
• X-ray telescopes also need to be

above the atmosphere.
Chandra X-Ray Observatory

X-Ray Telescopes
• Focusing of X-rays requires special mirrors.

• Mirrors are arranged to focus X-ray photons through
grazing bounces off the surface.
Gamma-Ray Telescopes
• Gamma-ray telescopes also need to be
in space.
• Focusing gamma rays is extremely

difficult, and high energy gamma rays
are also rare.
• Therefore, instead of trying to focus

gamma rays, individual high energy
gamma rays are observed directly
Fermi Gamma-Ray Observatory through electron-positron pair creation
in tungsten foils

Very high-energy gamma rays with energies beyond 300 GeV are so rare that they need to be observed with
ground-based Air Cherenkov Telescopes. These telescopes observe the Cherenkov radiation from extremely
high-energetic charged particles which are created when a very high-energy gamma ray hits the atmosphere.
The H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) array in Namibia can detect gamma
rays
with energies between 30 GeV and 100 TeV.
What have learned?
• How can we observe invisible light?
– Telescopes for invisible light are usually modified versions of
reflecting telescopes.
– Many of the telescopes used for observing invisible light are in
space.
• Visible light and radio waves can be observed with ground based
telescopes
– The largest optical telescopes currently in use have diameters
of about 10 meters.
– The largest radio telescope has a diameter of 500 meters.

The subjects of lectures 7 and 8 concern Chapters
S2 and S3 in the textbook:
Relativity, curved spacetime, and gravity

The universe is a curved spacetime.
Therefore the notions and ideas discussed in these
meetings are useful background knowledge for
cosmology, but the material from Chapters S2 and
S3 will not be tested in assignments or exams.
Einstein & Co.: The Road to Relativity
Woldemar Voigt (1850-1919)

found that the symmetries of
electromagnetism and
non-relativistic mechanics are
incompatible and discovers the
Lorentz transformation in 1887.
Albert Abraham Michelson
(1852-1931) found the first
experimental evidence that
the speed of light is absolute.
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

(1853-1928) re-discovers the
Lorentz transformation in 1892
in his attempts to explain
Michelson’s observations.
Jules Henri Poincaré

(1854-1912)
generalizes
Lorentz transformations.
The Road to Relativity: Enter Einstein
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

formulates the principle of relativity: All freely moving (= inertial) observers are
equivalent. The speed of light is the same for all these observers, and all these
observers have their own time coordinate (or definition of simultaneity).
We live in a four-dimensional world
(even without relativity)
Location in space needs three numbers

(or dimensions)

(or dimensions)

(or dimensions)

(or dimensions)
(or dimensions), but we also have to tell the time
when an event is happening! 4th dimension!
The trick about relativity is that we can define future
and past, but the definition of now is ambiguous:
Time is relative.
Time is relative.
Time is relative.
Time is relative.
The Lorentz transformation
Future
Elsewhere Elsewhere
Past
The Theory of Relativity
• Special Theory of Relativity (1905)
– Usual notions of space and time must be revised because the
speed of light in vacuum has the same value c = 299792458 m/s for
every inertial observer.
– E = mc2
(E.g. a 1 kg Lithium ion battery would have a chemical energy of
about 500 kJ, but the total mass corresponds to an energy of
8.99x1013 kJ.
The final energy consumption of Canada in 2019 was 8.6155x1015
kJ, i.e. complete conversion of a mass of 1 kg into heat and
electricity would cover the energy demand of Canada for almost 4
days, or stated differently: complete conversion of 96 kg of mass into
electricity and heat would supply Canada for a whole year.)
• General Theory of Relativity (1915)

– Introduces the notion of curved spacetime to make gravity and
relativity compatible.
Key Ideas of Special Relativity
• No information can travel faster than light in
vacuum.
• If you observe something moving near light
speed:
– Its time is slowed down.
– Its length is contracted in direction of motion.
• Whether or not two events are simultaneous
depends on your reference frame.
• What are the major ideas of special
relativity?
– No information can be transmitted faster
than light.
– We must revise our notions of space and
time when dealing with objects near light
speed.
• What is “relative” about relativity?

– Time and simultaneity are relative, but laws
of nature, including the speed of light, are
the same for everybody.
Reference Frames
• Motion can be defined with respect to a

particular frame of reference.
Absoluteness of Light Speed
• Relativity claims that light should move at exactly c in

all reference frames (experimentally verified).
Velocity Addition
Tests of Special Relativity
• First evidence for absoluteness of speed of light
came from the Michelson-Morley experiment
performed in 1887.
• Time dilation happens routinely to subatomic
particles that approach the speed of light in
accelerators.
• Time dilation has also been verified through
precision measurements in airplanes moving at
much slower speeds.
Tests of Relativity
• Prediction that E = mc2 is verified daily in nuclear
reactors and in particle physics experiments.
• The coupling of the spins of electrons or neutrons or
protons to magnetic fields is a consequence of relativity.
→ Every MRI image
uses coupling of
proton spins to
magnetic fields
→ proves relativity.
Picture credit: Siemens

• How does relativity affect our view of
time and space?
– Time slows down for moving objects.
– Lengths shorten for moving objects.
– Simultaneity of events depends on your
perspective.
• Do the effects predicted by relativity
really occur?
– Relativity has been confirmed by many
different experiments.
Special Relativity is not enough!
Problem: Newton’s law of gravity
does not comply with the Lorentz transformations of

Special Relativity, i.e. if it holds for one observer, it would
not hold for another observer!
Solution: General Relativity and curved spacetime! → next time

The subjects of today’s lecture concern Chapter
S3 in the textbook:
Spacetime and Gravity

The universe is a curved dynamical spacetime.
Therefore the notions and ideas discussed today are
useful background knowledge for cosmology, but the
material from Chapters S2 and S3 will not be tested
in exams.
Chapter S3
Spacetime and Gravity
S3.1 Einstein’s Revolution
• Why did Einstein have to invent general

relativity?
• What are the major ideas of general

relativity?
Special Relativity is not enough!
Problem: Newton’s law of gravity
does not comply with the Lorentz transformations of

Special Relativity, i.e. if it holds for one observer, it would
not hold for another observer!
Spacetime
• Special relativity showed that space and
time are not absolute.
• Instead, they are inextricably linked in a
four-dimensional combination called
spacetime.
Curved Space
• Travelers going in
opposite directions
in straight lines will
eventually meet.
• Because they meet,

the travelers know
Earth’s surface
cannot be flat—it
must be curved.
Curved Spacetime
• Gravity can cause

two space probes
moving around
Earth to meet.
• General relativity
says this happens
because spacetime
is curved.
Rubber Sheet Analogy
• Matter distorts spacetime in a manner

analogous to how heavy weights distort a rubber
sheet.
• Matter Energy distorts spacetime in a manner

analogous to how heavy weights distort a rubber
sheet.
Key Ideas of General Relativity
• Gravity arises from distortions of
spacetime.
• Time runs slower in gravitational fields.
• Black holes can exist in spacetime.
• The universe is a curved spacetime. It may
have no boundaries and no center but
may still have finite volume.
• Rapid changes in the motion of large
masses can cause gravitational waves.
What is curved spacetime?
We use curved surfaces (instead of spacetime) to explain basic notions of curvature

Rules of Geometry in Flat Space
•
Geometry on a Curved Surface
• The straightest lines

on a sphere are great
circles sharing the
same center as the
sphere.
• Great circles intersect,

unlike parallel lines in
flat space.
Geometry on a Curved Surface
• Straight lines are

the shortest paths
between two points
in flat space.
• Great circles are

the shortest paths
between two points
on a sphere.
Rules of Spherical Geometry
•
Rules of Saddle-Shaped Geometry
•
Geometry of the Universe
• Three-dimensional spatial sections of
the universe may be flat, spherical, or
saddle-shaped depending on how much
matter (and energy) it contains.
– Flat and saddle-shaped universes are
spatially infinite in extent.
– A spherical universe is spatially finite in
extent.
– No center and no edge to the universe are
necessary in any of these cases.
“Straight” Lines in Spacetime
• According to equivalence principle:
– If you are floating freely, then your

worldline is following the straightest
possible path through spacetime.
– If you feel weight, then you are not

on the straightest possible path.
What is gravity?
•
•
What is a black hole?
Curvature Near Sun
• Sun’s mass curves spacetime near its surface.

Curvature Near Sun
• If we could shrink the Sun without changing its

mass, curvature of spacetime would become
greater near its surface, as would strength of
gravity.
Curvature Near Black Hole
• Continued shrinkage of Sun would eventually

make curvature so great that it would be like a
bottomless pit in spacetime: a black hole.
Curvature Near Black Hole
• Spacetime is so
curved near a black
hole that nothing
can escape.
• The “point of no
return” is called the
event horizon.
• Event horizon is a
three-dimensional
surface.
How does gravity affect time?
Time in an Accelerating Spaceship
• Time is slowed down in
an accelerating
spaceship.
← Ticks of a clock
outside spaceship
← Ticks of a clock
inside spaceship
Time in an Gravitational Field
• The effects of gravity

are exactly
equivalent to those
of acceleration.
• Time must run more

quickly at higher
altitudes in a
gravitational field
than at lower
altitudes.
In which movie did gravitational time delay play a crucial role?
Interstellar (2014).
Credits: Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros.
S3.4 Testing General Relativity

• How do we test the predictions of the
general theory of relativity?
Precession of Mercury
• The major axis of

Mercury’s elliptical
orbit precesses
with time at a rate
that disagrees with
Newton’s laws.
• General relativity
precisely accounts
for Mercury’s
precession.
Gravitational Lensing
• Curved spacetime
alters the paths of
light rays.
• This shifts apparent
positions of objects
in an effect called
gravitational lensing.
• The observed shifts

agree precisely with
general relativity.
• Gravitational lensing
can distort images
of objects.
• Lensing can even

make one object
appear to be at two
or more points in the
sky.
• Gravity of a foreground
galaxy (in the center)
bends light from an
object almost directly
behind it.
• Four images of that

object appear in the sky
(Einstein’s Cross).
• The gravity of a
foreground galaxy
(in the center) bends
light from a galaxy
directly behind it
• A ring of light from

the background
galaxy appears in
the sky (Einstein
Ring).
Gravitational Time Dilation
• Passage of time has
been measured with
high precision at different
altitudes.
• Time indeed passes

more slowly at lower
altitudes in precise
agreement with general
relativity.
This effect is important for GPS!

An everyday application of Relativity:
The Global Positioning System
Picture courtesy:
GPS.gov
Without using relativity in the position calculations, the positions calculated

from the GPS signals would be off by about 10 km already after one day,
and the mistake would increase with time!
Gravitational Waves
• General relativity predicts that movements of

a massive object can produce gravitational
waves just as movements of a charged
particle produce light waves.
Einstein’s General Relativity also predicts the existence of
periodic ripples of spacetime curvature, i.e. gravitational
waves.
Since September 2015, gravitational waves from mergers
of binary black holes or of neutron star binaries have been
observed several times by the LIGO detector and more
recently also by the VIRGO detector.
• How do we test the predictions of the
general theory of relativity?
– Precession of Mercury
– Gravitational lensing
– Gravitational time dilation
• What are gravitational waves?
– Movements of massive objects produce
wavelike disturbances in spacetime called
gravitational waves.
– They were predicted by General Relativity
in 1915, and directly observed for the first
time in 2015.
S3.5 Hyperspace, Wormholes, and
Warp Drive
The sky is the limit.
Shortcuts through Space
• If we could somehow
build a tunnel through
the center of Earth,
the trip from Indonesia
to Brazil would be
much shorter.
• Could there be
analogous tunnels
through spacetime?
Shortcuts through Spacetime
• Some mathematical solutions of the equations of

general relativity allow for shortcuts called
wormholes.
Are Wormholes Really Possible?
• Wormholes are not explicitly prohibited by
known laws of physics.
• If wormholes exist, then we still could not use

them as shortcuts through the universe,
because we would have to go faster than
light to reach the other end of the wormhole
(except…).
(…except if there are regions of negative

energy density – but that is truly on the
boundary between Science and Science
Fiction.)
Chapter 14: Our Star
Why does the Sun shine?

Is it on FIRE? … NO!
Chemical energy content
= maximal lifetime 10,000 years
Luminosity
Is it CONTRACTING? … NO!
Gravitational potential
energy = maximal lifetime 25 million years
Luminosity
It is powered by NUCLEAR ENERGY! (E = mc2)
Nuclear potential energy (core)
= maximal lifetime 10 billion years
Luminosity
• Weight of upper
layers compresses
lower layers.
Gravitational
equilibrium:
• Energy
supplied by
fusion
maintains the
pressure that
balances the
inward crush
of gravity.

Gravitational
contraction:
• Provided the
energy that
heated the core
as Sun was
forming
• Contraction
stopped when
fusion began.

Radius:
700,000 km
(109 times Earth)
Mass: 2 1030 kg
(300,000 Earths)
Luminosity:
3.8 1026 Watt
Temperature:
surface: 6,000 K
core: 15,000,000K
70% H, 28% He, 2% heavier elements
Fission
Big nucleus splits into smaller Fusion
pieces. Small nuclei stick
(Example: nuclear power plants) together to make a bigger one.
(Example: the Sun, stars)
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station near Toronto. Source: Wikipedia.

• High
temperatures
enable nuclear
fusion to happen
in the core.

• The Sun releases energy by fusing four
hydrogen nuclei into one helium nucleus.

IN
4 protons
OUT
4He nucleus
2 gamma rays
2 positrons
2 neutrinos
Total mass is
0.7% lower.

Chapter 15: Surveying the Stars

• The brightness of a star depends on both
distance and luminosity.
Luminosity:
• Amount of power a star
radiates
(radiated energy per time;
Unit: Joule/second =
Watt)
Apparent brightness:
• Amount of starlight that
reaches Earth
(energy per time and per
area;
Unit: Watt/square meter)

• The amount of
luminosity passing
through each
sphere is the same.
Area of sphere:
4 (radius)2
• Divide luminosity by
area to get
brightness.

• The relationship between apparent brightness
and luminosity depends on distance:
Luminosity
Brightness =
4 (distance)2
• We can determine a star's luminosity if we can

measure its distance and apparent brightness:
Luminosity = 4 (distance)2 (brightness)

• So how far away are these stars?
D

Parallax and Distance
p = parallax angle
1
d(in parsecs) =
p(in arcseconds)
1
d(in light-years) = 3.262
p(in arcseconds)

• Most luminous
stars:
106 LSun
• Least luminous
stars:
10–4LSun
• (LSun is
luminosity of Sun)

How do we measure stellar temperatures?

• Every object emits thermal radiation with a
spectrum that depends on its temperature.
1. Hotter objects emit more light per unit area at

all frequencies.
2. Hotter objects emit photons with a higher
average energy.

1. Hotter objects emit more light per area at all

frequencies.
2. Hotter objects emit photons with a higher average
energy: higher temperature → higher peak and more
towards blue.
→ We can use both position of the peak and total light output
per area to determine temperature of an object.
• Hottest stars:
50,000 K
• Coolest stars:
3,000 K
• (Sun's surface
is about
6,000 K.)

• Level of ionization
also reveals a
star's temperature.

• Absorption lines in star's spectrum tell us its
ionization level.
• Lines in a star's spectrum correspond to a spectral
type that reveals its temperature.
(Hottest) O B A F G K M (Coolest)
Remembering Spectral Types
(Hottest) O B A F G K M (Coolest)
Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me
Or
Oh, Be A Fine Guy, Kiss Me

How do we measure stellar masses?

• The orbit of a binary star system depends on strength of
gravity, which in turn depends on masses.
Types of Binary Star Systems
• Visual binary
• Spectroscopic binary
• Eclipsing binary
About half of all stars are in binary systems.

Visual Binary
• We can directly observe the orbital motions of

these stars.
Sirius A and B, about 8.6 light years away. The

average distance between Sirius A and Sirius B is
about 20 AU.

Spectroscopic Binary
• We determine the orbit by measuring Doppler

shifts.
Eclipsing Binary
• We can measure periodic eclipses.

We measure mass using gravity.
• Direct mass measurements are possible only for

stars in binary star systems. Kepler’s third law
4 2
p2 = a3
G (M1 + M2)
p = period
a = average separation
can be solved for total mass if p and a are known.

• Most massive
stars:
~100-150 MSun
(Few cases
observed with 150
MSun and possibly
even ~ 300 MSun)
• Least massive
stars: 0.08 MSun
(MSun is the mass of

the Sun.)

• How do we measure stellar luminosities?

– If we measure a star's apparent brightness
and distance, we can compute its luminosity
with the inverse square law for light.
– Parallax tells us distances to the nearest
stars.
• How do we measure stellar temperatures?
– A star's color and spectral type both reflect its
temperature.

• How do we measure stellar masses?

– Newton's version of Kepler's third law tells us
the total mass of a binary system, if we can
measure the orbital period (p) and average
orbital separation of the system (a).

15.2 Patterns Among Stars
• Our goals for learning:

– What is a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
– What is the significance of the main
sequence?
– What are giants, supergiants, and white
dwarfs?
– Why do the properties of some stars vary?

What is a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
• An H-R
diagram plots
the luminosity
L and
u temperature of
m
stars.
in
o
si
ty

Temperature
• Most stars fall
somewhere on
the main
sequence of
the H-R
diagram.

• Stars with lower
Temperature
and higher
Luminosity than
main-sequence
stars must
have larger
radii. These
stars are called
giants and
supergiants.

• Stars with higher
Temperature
and lower
Luminosity than
main-sequence
stars must have
smaller radii.
These stars are
called white
dwarfs.

• H-R diagram
depicts:
Temperature
L Color
u Spectral type
m Luminosity
in Radius
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star is
the hottest?
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star is
the hottest?
L
u
m A
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star
is the most
luminous?
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star
is the most
luminous?
L
u C
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star is
a main-
sequence
star?
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star is
a main-
sequence
star?
L
u
m D
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star
has the
largest
radius?
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star
has the
largest
radius?
L
u C
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Main-sequence
stars are fusing
hydrogen into
helium in their
cores like the Sun.
• Luminous main-
sequence stars are
hot (blue).
• Less luminous
ones are cooler
(yellow or red).

• Mass
measurements
of main-
sequence stars
show that the
hot, blue stars
are much more
massive than
the cool, red
ones.

• The mass of a
normal,
hydrogen-
burning star
determines its
luminosity and
spectral type.

• Core pressure
and temperature
of a higher-mass
star need to be
larger in order to
balance gravity.
• Higher core
temperature
boosts fusion
rate, leading to
larger luminosity.

Why is there an upper and lower end to the main sequence?
Stars more
massive than
~150MSun
would blow
apart during
the onset of
L
fusion.
u
m
in Stars less
os massive than
it 0.08MSun
y can't sustain
fusion.
Temperature
Stellar Properties Review
• Luminosity: from brightness and distance
10–4LSun–106LSun
• Temperature: from color and spectral type
3000 K–50,000 K
• Mass: from period (p) and average separation (a) of

binary star orbit (up to about 315 MSun observed?)
0.08MSun – (100-150)MSun

Stellar Properties:
Luminosity and temperature are determined
by mass
• Luminosity: from brightness and distance
(0.08MSun) 10–4LSun–106LSun (150MSun)
• Temperature: from color and spectral type
(0.08MSun) 3000 K–50,000 K (150MSun)
• Mass: from period (p) and average separation (a) of

binary star orbits
0.08MSun–150MSun
Mass and Lifetime
• Sun's life expectancy: 10 billion years

Mass and Lifetime Until core
hydrogen
• Sun's life expectancy: 10 billion years (10% of total)
is used up

hydrogen
is used up
• Life expectancy of 10MSun star:
10 times as much fuel, uses it 104 times as fast
10 million years = 10 billion years 10/104

hydrogen
is used up
• Life expectancy of 10MSun star:
10 times as much fuel, uses it 104 times as fast
10 million years = 10 billion years 10/104
• Life expectancy of 0.1MSun star:
0.1 times as much fuel, uses it 0.01 times as fast
100 billion years = 10 billion years 0.1/0.01

Main-Sequence Star Summary
High-Mass Star:
• High luminosity
• Short-lived
• Larger radius
• Blue
Low-Mass Star:
• Low luminosity
• Long-lived
• Small radius
• Red

What are giants, supergiants, and white
dwarfs?

Off the Main Sequence
• Stellar properties depend on both mass and age:

Those that have finished fusing H to He in their
cores are no longer on the main sequence.
• All stars become larger and redder after

exhausting their core hydrogen: giants and
supergiants.
• Most stars end up small and white after fusion

has ceased: white dwarfs.

• Which star is
most like our
Sun?
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which star
is most like
our Sun?
B
L
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which of
these stars
will have
changed the
least 10
L billion years
u from now?
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which of
these stars
will have
changed the
least 10
L billion years
u from now?
m
in
o
si
ty C
Temperature
• Which of
these stars
can be no
more than 10
million years
L old?
u
m
in
o
si
ty
Temperature
• Which of
these stars
can be no
more than 10
million years
L old?
u
m
in
o A
si
ty
Temperature
Why do the properties of some stars vary?

Variable Stars
• Any star that varies significantly in brightness

with time is called a variable star.
• Some stars vary in brightness because they

cannot achieve proper balance between power
welling up from the core and power radiated
from the surface.
• Such a star alternately expands and contracts,

varying in brightness as it tries to find a balance.

Pulsating Variable Stars
• The light curve of this pulsating variable star

shows that its brightness alternately rises and
falls over a 50-day period.
Cepheid Variable Stars
• Most pulsating
variable stars
inhabit an instability
strip on the H-R
diagram.
• The most luminous

ones are known as
Cepheid variables.

• What is a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?

– An H-R diagram plots stellar luminosity of stars
versus surface temperature (or color or spectral
type).
• What is the significance of the main sequence?
– Normal stars that fuse H to He in their cores fall
on the main sequence of an H-R diagram.
– A star's mass determines its position along the
main sequence (high-mass: luminous and blue;
low-mass: faint and red).

• What are giants, supergiants, and white

dwarfs?
– All stars become larger and redder after core
hydrogen burning is exhausted: giants and
supergiants.
– Most stars end up as tiny white dwarfs after
fusion has ceased.
• Why do the properties of some stars vary?
– Some stars fail to achieve balance between
power generated in the core and power
radiated from the surface.

Chapter 16: Star Birth

Star-Forming Clouds
• Stars form in dark

clouds of dusty gas
in interstellar space.
• The gas between the

stars is called the
interstellar
medium.

Composition of Clouds
• We can determine
the composition of
interstellar gas from
its absorption lines in
the spectra of stars.
• 70% H, 28% He, 2%

heavier elements in
our region of Milky
Way

Molecular Clouds
• Most of the matter in star-forming clouds is in the

form of molecules (H2, CO, etc.).
• These molecular clouds have a temperature of
10–30 K and a density of about 300 molecules
per cubic centimeter.
Why do stars form?
Computer simulation of a contracting and fragmenting gas cloud.

Mass 50 MSun, diameter 1.2 light years.
“Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben um einen tanzenden

Stern zu gebären.”
You must still have chaos inside yourself to give birth to a
dancing star.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
Gravity versus Pressure
• Gravity can create stars only if it can overcome

the force of thermal pressure in a cloud.
• Emission lines from molecules in a cloud can

prevent a pressure buildup by converting
thermal energy into infrared and radio photons
that escape the cloud.

Mass of a Star-Forming Cloud
• A typical molecular cloud (T~ 30 K, n ~ 300

particles/cm3) must contain at least a few
hundred solar masses for gravity to overcome
pressure.

The First Stars
• Elements like carbon and oxygen had not yet

been made when the first stars formed.
• Without CO molecules to provide cooling, the

clouds that formed the first stars had to be
considerably warmer than today's molecular
clouds.
• The first stars must therefore have been more

massive than most of today's stars, for gravity to
overcome pressure.

Simulation of the First Stars
• Simulations of early star formation suggest the

first molecular clouds never cooled below 100 K,
making stars of ~100MSun.

• Where do stars form?

– Stars form in dark, dusty clouds of molecular gas with
temperatures of 10–30 K.
– These clouds are made mostly of molecular hydrogen
(H2) but stay cool because of emission by carbon
monoxide (CO).
• Why do stars form?
– Stars form in clouds that are massive enough for
gravity to overcome thermal pressure (and any other
forms of resistance).
– Such a cloud contracts and breaks up into pieces that
go on to form stars.

Trapping of Thermal Energy
• As contraction packs the molecules and dust

particles of a cloud fragment closer together, it
becomes harder for infrared and radio photons
to escape.
• Thermal energy then begins to build up inside,

increasing the internal pressure.
• Contraction slows down, and the center of the

cloud fragment becomes a protostar.

From Protostar to Main Sequence
• A protostar looks starlike after the surrounding

gas is blown away, but its thermal energy comes
from gravitational contraction, not fusion.
• Contraction must continue until the core

becomes hot enough for nuclear fusion.
• Contraction stops when the energy released by

core fusion balances energy radiated from the
surface – the star is now a main-sequence star.

Birth Stages on a Life Track
• A life track illustrates a star's surface temperature

and luminosity at different moments in time.

Assembly of a Protostar
• Luminosity and temperature grow as matter

collects into a protostar.

Convective Contraction
• Surface temperature remains near 3000 K while

convection is main energy transport mechanism.

Radiative Contraction
• Luminosity remains nearly constant during late

stages of contraction, while radiation transports
energy through star.
Self-Sustaining Fusion
• Core temperature continues to rise until star

begins fusion and arrives on the main sequence.

Life Tracks for Different Masses
• Models show that

Sun required about
30 million years to
go from protostar to
main sequence.
• Higher-mass stars
form faster.
• Lower-mass stars
form more slowly.

Stars more
massive than
~150MSun
would blow
apart during
the onset of
nuclear fusion.
L
u
m Stars less
in massive than
os 0.08MSun
it can't sustain
y fusion.
Temperature
Demographics of Stars
• Observations of star clusters show that star formation

makes many more low-mass stars than high-mass stars.
• What is the smallest mass a newborn star can

have?
– Degeneracy pressure stops the contraction of
objects <0.08MSun before fusion starts.
• What is the greatest mass a newborn star can
have?
– Stars greater than about 150MSun would be so
luminous that radiation pressure would blow
them apart.

• What are the typical masses of newborn

stars?
– Star formation makes many more low-mass
stars than high-mass stars.

Chapter 17: Star Stuff

Stellar Mass and Fusion
• The mass of a main-sequence star determines its

core pressure and temperature.
• Stars of higher mass have higher core

temperature and more rapid fusion, making those
stars both more luminous and shorter-lived.
• Stars of lower mass have cooler cores and slower

fusion rates, giving them smaller luminosities and
longer lifetimes.

High-Mass
Stars
>
8MSun
Intermediate-
Mass Stars
Low-Mass
Stars
<
2MSun
Brown
Dwarfs

• How does a star's mass affect nuclear
fusion?
– A star's mass determines its core pressure
and temperature and therefore determines its
fusion rate.
– Higher mass stars have hotter cores, faster
fusion rates, greater luminosities, and shorter
lifetimes.

17.2 Life as a Low-Mass Star
– What are the life stages of a low-mass star?
– How does a low-mass star die?

What are the life stages of a low-mass star?
A star remains on the main sequence as long as it

can fuse hydrogen into helium in its core.

Life Track after Main Sequence
• A star remains on the

main sequence as long
as it can fuse hydrogen
into helium in its core.
• Observations of star
clusters show that a star
becomes larger, redder,
and more luminous after
its time on the main
sequence is over.

Red Giants: Broken Thermostat
• As the core contracts
after nuclear fusion in
the core stopped, H
begins fusing to He in a
shell around the core.
• Luminosity increases
because the core
thermostat is broken —
the increasing fusion
rate in the shell does
not stop the core from
contracting.

Onset of helium fusion (helium flash)
• Helium fusion does not begin right away because it requires

higher temperatures than hydrogen fusion – larger charge
leads to greater repulsion. He fusion starts at a temperature
of order 108 K.
• Fusion of two helium nuclei doesn't work, so helium fusion
must combine three helium nuclei to make carbon.

Helium Flash
• The thermostat of a low-mass red giant is broken
because electron degeneracy pressure supports
the core (at most two electrons with the same
energy can be in the same place compressing
electrons increases energy generates electron
degeneracy pressure).
• Core temperature rises rapidly when helium fusion

begins.
• Helium fusion rate skyrockets until thermal

pressure takes over and expands the core again.
• Helium-burning stars neither shrink nor grow
because core thermostat is temporarily fixed.

Life Track after Helium Flash
• Models show that a

red giant should
shrink and become
less luminous after
helium fusion
begins in the core.

Life Track after Helium Flash
• Observations of star
clusters agree with
those models.
• Helium-burning stars
are found on a
horizontal branch on
the H-R diagram.
The globular cluster M4 is about 7,200 light-years away

and 70 light-years across. It is about 12 billion years old
and contains several 10,000 stars. Credit: ESO
How does a low-mass star die?
The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)
is about 700 light years away
and about 5 light years across.
It shows a “planetary nebula”

around the exposed core of
a dead star about 11,000
years after the star expelled
its outer layers.

Double Shell Burning
• After core helium fusion stops, helium fuses into

carbon in a shell around the carbon core, and
hydrogen fuses to helium in a shell around the
helium layer.
• This double shell–burning stage never reaches

equilibrium—fusion rate periodically spikes
upward in a series of thermal pulses.
• With each spike, convection dredges carbon up

from core and transports it to surface.

Planetary Nebulae
• Double shell burning ends with a pulse that ejects the H

and He into space as a planetary nebula.
• The core left behind becomes a white dwarf.
End of fusion and final state for light stars
• Fusion progresses no further in a low-mass star

because the core temperature never grows hot
enough for fusion of heavier elements (some
helium fuses to carbon to make oxygen).
• Two electrons cannot exist in the same state in

the same place electrons resist collapse the
resulting degeneracy pressure supports the
white dwarf against gravity, although there is no
heat generating fusion any more in the core.

Terminal Life Track of a Sun-like Star
during 106 years ejection of outer layers 104 years expansion during double shell burning
lasts a few million years
Insert TCP 6e Figure 17.8
lasts about 50-100 mio.

years
105 years transition from helium flash to

stable core helium burning
108 -109 years from leaving main sequence (hydrogen shell burning) to ignition of core helium
burning (helium flash)
Earth's Fate
hydrogen shell burning →

→
→ double shell burning
hydrogen core burning helium core burning
• The Sun's luminosity will rise to 1000 times its

current level—too hot for life on Earth.
Earth's Fate
• The Sun's radius will grow to near current radius

of Earth's orbit.
• What are the life stages of a low-mass star?

– Hydrogen fusion in core (main sequence)
– Hydrogen fusion in shell around contracting
core (red giant)
– Helium fusion in core (horizontal branch),
below hydrogen shell burning
– Double shell burning (red giant)
• How does a low-mass star die?
– Ejection of hydrogen and helium in a planetary
nebula leaves behind an inert white dwarf.

17.3 Life as a High-Mass Star

– What are the life stages of a high-mass
star?
– How do high-mass stars make the
elements necessary for life?
– How does a high-mass star die?

What are the life stages of a high-mass
star?

important
(
-
CNO Cycle
• High-mass main-
sequence stars fuse
H to He at a higher
rate using carbon,
nitrogen, and
oxygen as catalysts.
• Greater core
temperature enables
hydrogen nuclei to
overcome greater
repulsion.

Life Stages of High-Mass Stars
• Late life stages of high-mass stars are initially

similar to those of low-mass stars:
– Hydrogen core fusion (main sequence)
– Hydrogen shell burning (supergiant)
– Helium core fusion (supergiant)
• However, after that they can go beyond double-
shell burning to enter multiple-shell burning
stages.

How do high-mass stars make the elements
necessary for life?

Big Bang made 75% H, 25% He and traces of Li, Be and B;
stars make everything else.
• Helium fusion can make carbon in stars.
• CNO cycle can change carbon into nitrogen and oxygen in
stars.
Helium Capture
• High core temperatures allow helium to fuse with

heavier elements.

• Helium capture builds carbon into oxygen, neon,
magnesium, and other elements.
Advanced Nuclear Burning
• Core temperatures in stars with >8MSun allow

fusion of elements as heavy as iron.

• Advanced reactions in stars make elements like Si, S, Ca,
Fe.
Final phases of nuclear burning:
Multiple Shell Burning
• Advanced nuclear
burning proceeds
in a series of
nested shells.
Temperatures and time scales

for shell burning in high-mass stars
Iron is a dead end for
fusion because
nuclear reactions
involving iron do not
release energy.
This is because iron

has lowest mass per
nuclear particle.

How does a high-mass star die?
Iron builds up in
core until electron
degeneracy
pressure can no
longer resist
gravity.
The core then

suddenly
collapses, creating
a supernova
explosion.

Supernova Explosion
• Core degeneracy
pressure goes away
because electrons
combine with protons,
making neutrons and
neutrinos.
• Neutrons collapse to
the center, forming a
neutron star which is
stabilized by neutron
degeneracy pressure.

• Energy and neutrons released in supernova explosion enable
elements heavier than iron to form, including gold and uranium.
(Neutron star mergers are another major source of very heavy
elements.)
Supernova Remnant
• Energy released by
the collapse of the
core drives the star's
outer layers into
space.
• The Crab Nebula is

the remnant of the
supernova seen in
1054. It is about
6,500 light years
away.
Supernova 1987A
The closest supernova in the last four centuries (since Kepler’s supernova
SN 1604, at 20,000 light years distance) was seen in 1987. SN 1987A
occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud at a distance of about 169,000
light years.

• What are the life stages of a high-mass star?

– They are similar to the life stages of a low-mass
star.
• How do high-mass stars make the elements
necessary for life?
– Higher masses produce higher core
temperatures that enable fusion of heavier
elements.
• How does a high-mass star die?
– Its iron core collapses, leading to a supernova.

Role of Mass
• A star's mass determines its entire life story

because it determines its core temperature.
• High-mass stars with > 8MSun have short lives,
eventually becoming hot enough to make iron,
and end in supernova explosions.
• Low-mass stars with < 2MSun have long lives,
never become hot enough to fuse carbon nuclei,
and end as white dwarfs.
• Intermediate-mass stars can make elements
heavier than carbon but end as white dwarfs.

The most massive stars die
first. This implies that the main
sequence turnoff point of a star
cluster tells us the age of the
cluster, because stars in a
cluster are born together.
For example, only stars older
than about 100 million years
are already in their dying red
giant phases (or are already
dead) in the Pleiades cluster.
This tells us that the Pleiades
cluster is about 100 million
years old, because those stars
heavier than about 6 solar
masses have died while those
with less than 6 solar masses
are still healthy hydrogen
burning stars on the main
sequence.
Chapter 18: The Stellar Graveyard

18.1 White Dwarfs

– What is a white dwarf?
– What can happen to a white dwarf in a
close binary system?

White Dwarfs
• White dwarfs are the

remaining cores of dead
stars.
• Electron degeneracy
pressure supports them
against the crush of
gravity.

• White dwarfs cool off
and grow dimmer with
time.

Size of a White Dwarf
• White dwarfs with same mass as Sun are about

same size as Earth.
• Higher-mass white dwarfs are smaller.

The White Dwarf Limit
• Quantum mechanics says that electrons must

move faster as they are squeezed into a very
small space.
• As a white dwarf's mass approaches 1.4MSun,

its electrons must move at nearly the speed of
light.
• Because nothing can move faster than light, a

white dwarf cannot be more massive than
1.4MSun, the white dwarf limit (or
Chandrasekhar limit).

What can happen to a white dwarf in a close
binary system?
• White dwarfs are the exposed remnant cores of burnt out stars.
• When a white dwarf accumulates mass from a nearby companion star, it
can completely explode in a thermonuclear detonation.
• This detonation is called a white dwarf supernova (or type 1a supernova).
• All white dwarf supernovae happen with the same amount of mass, about
1.4 solar masses (the maximal mass of a white dwarf).
Illustration: NASA/Chandra X-Ray Observatory/M. Weiss 29

Two Types of Supernovae
• Massive star (core collapse) supernova:

– Iron core of a massive star reaches white dwarf limit
and collapses into a neutron star (or sometimes into a
black hole), causing total explosion
(leaves behind nebula and often also neutron star).
• White dwarf supernova:

– Carbon fusion suddenly begins as a white dwarf in
close binary system reaches white dwarf limit,
causing total explosion
(leaves behind nebula).

• One way to tell supernova types apart is with a light
curve showing how luminosity changes with time.

The white
dwarf
(type 1a)
supernova
1994D in the
galaxy NGC
4526, about
55 million
light years
away.
Picture
courtesy
Hubble
Space
Telescope
Supernova Type:
Massive Star or White Dwarf?
• Light curves differ.
• Spectra differ (exploding white dwarfs don't have

hydrogen absorption lines).
• Many more neutrinos from massive star

supernovae.

• What is a white dwarf?
– A white dwarf is the inert core of a dead star.
– It is still extremely hot from the previous
nuclear fusion processes.
– Electron degeneracy pressure balances the
inward pull of gravity (up to a maximal mass of
about 1.4 solar masses).
• What can happen to a white dwarf in a close
binary system?
– Matter from its close binary companion can fall
onto the white dwarf through an accretion disk.
– Accretion of matter can lead to novae and
white dwarf supernovae.
18.2 Neutron Stars

– What is a neutron star?
– How were neutron stars discovered?
– What can happen to a neutron star in a close
binary system?

• A neutron star is the ball of
neutrons left behind by a
massive-star supernova.
• Degeneracy pressure of
neutrons supports a neutron
star against gravity.
• Typical size:
Radius about 10 km.
• Typical density:
3.7x1017 kg/m3
The remnants of SN 386 (G11.2-03), denser than atomic nuclei!
14,300 light-years away.
Discovery of Neutron Stars
Neutron stars were proposed as a theoretical concept
in astrophysics by Baade and Zwicky in 1934
• Using a radio telescope in 1967, Jocelyn Bell noticed very

regular pulses of radio emission coming from a single
part of the sky.
• The pulses were coming from a spinning neutron star – a
pulsar.
Supernova Remnant • Energy released by
the collapse of the
iron core of a dying
massive star drives
the star's outer
layers into space.
• The Crab Nebula is

the remnant of the
supernova seen in
1054. It is about
6,500 light-years
away. Size is about
10 light-years.
Pulsars
• A pulsar is a neutron star

that beams radiation
along a magnetic axis that
is not aligned with the
rotation axis.

Pulsars
• The radiation beams

sweep through space like
lighthouse beams as the
neutron star rotates.

Why Pulsars Must Be Neutron Stars
Circumference of NS = 2π (radius) ~ 60 km
Spin rate of fast pulsars ~ 1000 cycles per second
– Surface rotation velocity ~ 60,000 km/s

~ 20% speed of light
~ escape velocity from NS
Anything else would be torn to pieces!

Why can pulsars spin so incredibly fast?
• Pulsars spin fast because a large stellar core's spin

speeds up as it collapses into small neutron star
(similar to acceleration of the rotation of a spinning
skater who pulls in her or his arms).
• This effect is known in physics as conservation of

angular momentum.

• What is a neutron star?

– It is a ball of neutrons left over from a massive
star supernova and supported by neutron
• How were neutron stars discovered?
– Beams of radiation from a rotating neutron
star sweep through space like lighthouse
beams, making them appear to pulse.
– Observations of these pulses were the first
evidence for neutron stars.

18.3 Black Holes: Gravity's Ultimate Victory
• A black hole is an object whose gravity is so

powerful that not even light can escape it.
"Surface" of a Black Hole
• The "surface" of a black hole is the radius at

which the escape velocity equals the speed of
light.
• This spherical surface is known as the event

horizon.
• The radius of the event horizon is known as the

Schwarzschild radius.

• The event horizon of a 3MSun black hole is also about
as big as a city (Schwarzschild radius is about 9 km).

Neutron Star Limit
• Quantum mechanics says that neutrons in the same place
cannot be in the same state. This generates neutron
• Neutron degeneracy pressure can no longer support a neutron

star against gravity if its mass exceeds about 2.2Msun.
• Some massive star supernovae can make a black hole if

enough mass falls onto core.
• Massive stars with a main sequence mass of less than about

20 Msun may end up as neutron stars after core collapse
(because they shed their outer layers to leave a core with less
than 2.2Msun) while heavier stars may end up as black holes.
Singularity
• Beyond the neutron star limit, no known force can

resist the crush of gravity.
• As far as we know, gravity crushes all the matter

into a single point known as a singularity.

Three populations of dead stars:
. White dwarfs (least massive and most abundant, mass
limit about 1.4 solar masses)
. Neutron stars
(more massive and less abundant than white dwarfs, mass
limit about 2.2 solar masses)
. Black holes
(most massive and least abundant of the three populations)
Chapter 19: Our Galaxy

19.1 The Milky Way Revealed
– What does our galaxy look like?
– How do stars orbit in our galaxy?

• Dusty gas
clouds
obscure our
view because
they absorb
visible light.
• This is the
interstellar
medium that
makes new
star systems.

• We see our galaxy edge-on.
• Primary features: disk, bulge, halo, globular clusters

• If we could view the Milky Way from above the disk, we
would see its spiral arms.

How do stars orbit in our galaxy?

• Stars in the disk all orbit in the same direction
with a little up-and-down motion.

• Orbits of stars
in the bulge
and halo have
random
orientations.

Orbital Velocity Law
= r
M
v2G
r
• The orbital speed (v) and radius (r) of an object on a
circular orbit around the galaxy tell us the mass (Mr)
within that orbit. We can calculate the mass of the
Milky Way inside of the sun’s orbit from this using r =
27,000 light-years and v = 800,000 km/h.

• The Sun's orbital motion (radius and velocity)
tells us the mass within Sun's orbit:
1.0 1011MSun
That is 1.9 1041kg!
Or,
190,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000 kg.

• What does our galaxy look like?

– Our galaxy consists of a disk of stars and gas,
with a bulge of stars at the center of the disk,
surrounded by a large spherical halo.
• How do stars orbit in our galaxy?
– Stars in the disk orbit in circles going in the
same direction with a little up-and-down
motion.
– Orbits of halo and bulge stars have random
orientations.

19.2 Galactic Recycling

– How is gas recycled in our galaxy?
– Where do stars tend to form in our galaxy?

How is gas recycled in our galaxy?
• Star–gas–star cycle
• Recycles gas from old stars into new star systems.
• High-mass
stars have
strong stellar
winds that
blow bubbles
of hot gas.

The Cat’s Eye
Nebula is about
3,300 light-years
away.
• Lower mass stars return gas to interstellar space

through stellar winds and planetary nebulae.
• High-mass stars return gas to
interstellar space through strong
stellar winds and supernova
explosions.
• X rays from hot gas in supernova
remnants reveal newly made
heavy elements.
Cassiopeia A is about 11,000 light years

away. It was a massive star supernova
from a star with about 16 solar masses
when it was on the main sequence. It may
have had about 5 solar masses left when it
exploded. The explosion left a neutron star
and a remnant gas cloud.
Picture credit: Chandra X-ray observatory
• A supernova
remnant cools
and begins to
emit visible light
as it expands.
• New elements
made by a
supernova mix
into the
interstellar
medium.

• Radio emission in
supernova
remnants is from
particles
accelerated to
near light speed.
• Most cosmic rays

come from
supernovae.
Cassiopeia A is a remnant of a massive star supernova, about 11,000 light years away.
• Multiple
supernovae
create huge
hot bubbles
that can blow
out of the
disk.
• Gas clouds
cooling in the
halo can rain
back down on
the disk.

• Molecular clouds
in Orion
• Composition:
– Mostly H2
– About 28% He
– About 1% CO
– Many other
molecules

• Gravity forms stars
out of the gas in
molecular clouds,
completing the
star–gas–star cycle.
• Radiation from
newly formed stars
is eroding these
starforming clouds.

Summary of Galactic Recycling
• Stars make new elements by fusion.

• Dying stars expel gas and new elements,
producing hot bubbles (~106 K).
G • Hot gas cools, allowing atomic hydrogen
a
clouds to form (~100–10,000 K).
s
C • Further cooling permits molecules to form,
o making molecular clouds (~30 K).
ol • Gravity forms new stars (and planets) in
s molecular clouds.

Where do stars tend to form in our galaxy?

• Ionization nebulae
are found around
short-lived high-mass
stars, signifying
active star formation.
Orion nebula,
about 1,350 light years away.
Halo: no ionization nebulae, no blue stars
no star formation
Disk: ionization nebulae, blue stars star formation

• Most of the
formation of new
stars happens in
the spiral arms.
Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51),

about 28 million light-years
away.

Whirlpool Galaxy
• Much of the star formation in the disk happens in the spiral
arms.
• Spiral arms are waves of formation.
Spiral Arms
• Spiral arms are waves of
star formation.
. Gas clouds get
squeezed as they
move into spiral arms.
. Squeezing of clouds
triggers star
formation.
. Young stars flow out
of spiral arms.
At a distance
of about 150
million light-
years,
NGC 6753 is
another
beautiful
example of
star
formation in
the spiral
arms.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble &
NASA
• How is gas recycled in our galaxy?

– Gas from dying stars mixes new elements into the
interstellar medium, which slowly cools, making the
molecular clouds where stars form.
– Those stars will eventually return much of their matter
to interstellar space.
• Where do stars tend to form in our galaxy?
– Active star-forming regions contain molecular clouds,
hot stars, and ionization nebulae.
– Much of the star formation in our galaxy happens in
the spiral arms.

19.3 The History of the Milky Way

– What do halo stars tell us about our
galaxy's history?
– How did our galaxy form?
What Do Halo Stars Tell us About Our
Galaxy's History?
• Halo stars formed first, then stopped.
What Do Halo Stars Tell us About Our
Galaxy's History?
• Halo stars
formed
first, then
stopped.
• Disk stars
formed
later, kept
forming.
How did our galaxy form?

Our galaxy formed from a cloud of intergalactic gas.
Halo stars formed first as gravity caused gas to contract.
Remaining gas settled into a spinning disk.
Galaxy Formation
• Stars continuously form in disk as galaxy grows older.

Rotating collapsing gas clouds
- Heat up (conversion of gravitational energy into kinetic

energy and radiation; radiation energy cannot escape
easily at later dense stages of the core)
- Spin faster and faster due to contraction

(like figure skater pulling arms in; in scientific terms:
“conservation of angular momentum”)
- Form flat disks due to inelastic collisions of subunits

and easier collapse parallel to rotation axis
Examples are not limited to galaxy formation:
- Planetary disks (plane of planetary motion around

stars; plane of the ecliptic)
- Accretion disks around neutron stars and black holes
- Stellar disks in galaxies

• What clues to our galaxy's history do

halo stars hold?
– Halo stars are all old, with a smaller
proportion of heavy elements than disk stars,
indicating that the halo formed first.
• How did our galaxy form?
– Halo stars formed early in the galaxy's history;
disk stars formed later, after much of the
galaxy's gas settled into a spinning disk.

19.4 The Galactic Center
– What lies in the center of our galaxy?

Radio waves, infrared light and X-rays can penetrate the gas cloud obscuring
our view
towards the
galactic
center
Infrared light from Radio emission from center
center

Radio emission from center Swirling gas near
center

Swirling gas near Orbiting stars near center
center

• Stars appear to be
orbiting something
massive but
invisible … a
black hole?
• Orbits of stars
indicate a mass of
about 4 million
MSun.
• X-ray flares
from galactic
center
suggest that
tidal forces of
suspected
black hole
occasionally
tear apart
chunks of
matter about
to fall in.

• What lies in the center of our galaxy?
– Orbits of stars near the center of our galaxy
indicate that it contains a black hole with 4
million times the mass of the Sun.

The galactic center in more detail:
- Ring of molecular gas about 1,000 light years across,

with a mass of a few 100,000 solar masses.
- Inner 100 light years contain strong magnetic fields

and bright X-ray sources.
- Innermost few light years contain about a million stars

(this is about 10 million times the stellar density in our neighborhood)
and a rotating disk or ring of molecular gas with streams of matter
spiraling towards the center.
- Innermost X-ray flare and radio source Sgr A* has a power output
of order 1033 W, more than a million times the power output of our Sun.
Remark:
The Schwarzschild radius of a 4-million-solar-masses black hole is about
12 million km = 0.08 AU = 17 solar radii.
Chapter 20
Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern
Cosmology
The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101, NGC 5457) is about 21 million light years away and
about 170,000 light years across.
20.1 Islands of Stars

• How are the lives of galaxies connected
with the history of the universe?
• What are the three major types of
galaxies?
• How are galaxies grouped together?
What are the three major types
of galaxies?
Hubble Deep Field 2.6 arcminutes
Our deepest images of

the universe show a great
variety of galaxies, some
of them billions of light-
years away.
2.4 arcminutes
Hubble Ultra
Insert figure, HUDF1.jpg
Deep Field
Hubble Ultra
Deep Field
Hubble Ultra
Deep Field
NGC 4414 is about 62 million light years away.
Disk component:
stars of all ages, many gas clouds
Spheroidal component:
bulge and halo, old stars, few gas clouds
The Sombrero galaxy (M104, NGC 4594) is about 29 million light years away.
Disk
component:
stars of all
ages,
many gas
clouds
Spheroidal
component:
bulge and
halo, old
stars,
few gas
clouds
NGC 1232 is about
61 million light years
away
Disk
component:
stars of all
ages,
many gas
clouds
Spheroidal
component:
bulge and
halo, old stars,
few gas clouds
Disk
component:
stars of all
ages, many
gas clouds
Spheroidal
component:
bulge and
halo, old
stars, few gas
clouds
Barred spiral galaxy: has a bar of stars across the bulge
NGC 1300 is about 61 million light years away and about 110,000 light years across.
Lenticular
galaxy:
has a disk like
a spiral galaxy
but much less
dusty gas
(intermediate
between spiral
and elliptical)
NGC 2787 is about 24 million light years away.
Among the large galaxies, most (75%-85%) are spiral or lenticular.

Elliptical
galaxy:
all spheroidal
component,
virtually no
disk
component
Red-yellow
color
indicates
older star
population.
Virgo A (M87, NGC 4486) is a giant elliptical galaxy in the center of the Virgo cluster,
about 53 million light years away.
Irregular galaxy
The Large Magellanic
Cloud is a satellite of
the Milky Way at a
distance of about
160,000 light years.
Its irregular
appearance could be
due to the tidal forces
exerted by our Milky
Way galaxy.
Irregular galaxies were more common in the early Blue-white color

universe than today. This could be due to more indicates ongoing star
frequent close encounters between galaxies, or formation.
because they have not yet settled into a regular
shape.
Lenticular galaxy classes
Elliptical galaxies
Spiral disk galaxies
Spheroid Hubble’s galaxy classes Disk

dominates dominates
How are galaxies grouped
together?
Spiral galaxies
are often found
in groups of
galaxies (up to
a few dozen
galaxies).
The Hickson Compact

Group (HCG) 87
is about 400 million
light years away.
Elliptical galaxies
are much more
common in huge
clusters of
galaxies
(hundreds to
thousands of
galaxies).
The galaxy cluster

Abell 1689 is about
2.2 billion light years
away.
• How are the lives of galaxies
connected with the history of the
universe?
– Galaxies generally formed when the
universe was young and have aged along
with the universe.
• What are the three major types of
galaxies?
– The major types are spiral galaxies,
elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies.
– Spirals have both disk and spheroidal
components; ellipticals have no disk.
• How are galaxies grouped together?
– Spiral galaxies tend to collect into groups
of up to a few dozen galaxies.
– Elliptical galaxies are more common in
large clusters containing hundreds to
thousands of galaxies.
20.2 Measuring Galactic Distances
Or
The Cosmic Distance Ladder
Today: from sizing up the solar system
to the Tully-Fisher relation
Objectives for Learning
• How do we put rulers to the universe?
• What are the different rungs of the cosmic
distance ladder?
• How do we climb from one rung of the
ladder to the next?
• What are standard candles?
• What is the role of the brightness-
luminosity-distance relation?
First step historically: Observe parallax of Venus during transits
(1761, 1769, 1874, 1882) (June 8, 2004; June 6, 2012)
Sizing up the solar system (historically): Parallax angle gives distance
d = AU – aVenus, Kepler’s third law (pVenus/Year)2 = (aVenus/AU)3 then
yields the distance AU between Earth and the Sun. Application of Kepler’s
third law to all the other planets then yields the distances between those
planets and the Sun.
The modern first
step in the
cosmic distance
ladder:
Step 1:
Radar ranging
Determine size
of the solar
system using
reflection of
radar signals.
Step 2
Determine the
distances of stars
out to about 1,000
light-years using
stellar parallax.
(Nowadays up to
and beyond
D 10,000 light-
years.)
Note: Baseline
was determined in
the first step!
In particular, this yields the distance to the stars in the

Hyades cluster: ~151 light-years Basis for 3rd rung!
The Champions of Parallax:
The Hipparcos Satellite
ESA’s Hipparcos satellite
determined the positions of
117,955 stars with high
precision.
This allowed measurements
of parallax distances up to a
few hundred light-years.
Hipparcos was in operation
1989-1993.
Picture courtesy
ESA/Hipparcos
The Champions of Parallax:
The Gaia Satellite
Gaia was launched
in 2013. It measures
the positions of more than
1 billion stars with
unprecedented precision.
The mission may end in
2025.
Gaia allows measurements
of parallax distances up
to about 30,000 light-years
with 10% precision.
Picture courtesy
ESA/Gaia
Step 3 and beyond require the relation between luminosity
(how much radiation does a celestial object emit) and apparent
brightness (how bright does it look – how much radiation do we
receive from the object)
No radiation is lost:
Radiation energy per
time (Luminosity)
passing through each
sphere is the same.
Application 1 is used in the
transition to the 3rd step
(calibration of main sequence
stars), in the transition to the 4th
step (calibration of Cepheids),
in the calibration of the
Tully-Fisher relation,
and in the transition from 4th to
5th step (calibration of white
dwarf supernovae)
➢ First application finds
Standard Candles!
➢ Second application uses
Standard Candles!
Application 2 is used in the 3rd step (star clusters as representative
samples of main sequence stars),
in the 4th step (Cepheids as standard candles),
in the Tully-Fisher relation (rotating spiral galaxies as standard candles),
and in the 5th step (white dwarf supernovae as standard candles)
The dual role of the brightness-
distance-luminosity relation
• Know Brightness and Distance
find Luminosity
• Know Brightness and Luminosity

find Distance
Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram
Stars in the lower

right corner live much
longer than stars in
the upper left corner
M type stars are
much more likely in
old star populations
than O type stars.
Step 3: Main
sequence fitting
The apparent
brightness of a star
cluster’s main
sequence tells us its
distance.
This method works
up to about 100,000
light years, i.e.
throughout the Milky
Way galaxy.
Step 3
(Main Sequence fitting)
- redone in a different way:
Fit brightness-temperature
distribution of stars in a
large cluster directly to the
Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram to get luminosity of
the stars in the cluster
® Brightness+Luminosity
yields Distance to the stars.
H-R diagram with 4902 Hipparcos stars with least parallax

distance uncertainty. Picture courtesy ESA.
Transition to step 4
Knowing a star cluster’s distance, we can determine the

luminosity of each type of star within it.
In 1908, Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered bright variable
stars with the remarkable property that their luminosity is
directly correlated with the oscillation period of their apparent
brightness: Luminosity ~ Period1.2 (very roughly)
Cepheid
variable stars
are very
luminous.
Polaris at a
distance
of about 430
light years is the
closest Cepheid
star.
Step 4:
Because the
period of a
Cepheid variable
star tells us its
luminosity, we can
use these stars as
standard candles.
Light curve (apparent brightness) for a typical

Cepheid
variable star. Periods are in the range 1…100 days.
Cepheid variable stars can be used as standard candles
to measure distances up to 100,000,000 light-years!
So now we can measure distances far beyond the
boundaries of our own galaxy!
Period tells us Luminosity. Luminosity and Brightness tell us Distance.
This method works for distances up to 100,000,000 light years!
Note: The period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variable stars is calibrated through
the distance to Cepheids in clusters in the Milky Way or the Magellanic Clouds, i.e.
through step 3. In recent years nearby Cepheids were also used to calibrate their
period-luminosity relation through stellar parallax, i.e. through step 2 (and through
maser astrometry a few slides later)!
Re-inforcing the 4th Rung:
Maser Astrometry
Maser: Microwave amplification by stimulated emission of
radiation
Example of a 3-level maser

Step 1: Pumping (e.g. through collisions)
Step 2: Fast transition into level 2 (often also through collisions, or radiation)
Step 3: Stimulated emission: A photon with energy hf = E2 – E1 can
stimulate
emission of a second identical photon.
® This can trigger an avalanche of identical photons.
Re-inforcing the 4th Rung:
Maser Astrometry
blue- red-
shifted shifted
maser maser
Direction to Earth ↓
Blue-shifts and red-shifts of masers

in accretion disks around centers of
galaxies can tell us not only how fast
the galaxy moves (V), but also how
fast
the accretion disk rotates (v).
NGC 5765b is the lower galaxy in this pair of interacting galaxies. It hosts a megamaser
in the form of hydrogen clouds near its center. The hydrogen clouds get excited into a
masing state through radiation from the vicinity of the central black hole. The distance is
about 400 million light-years. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
An intermediate step
Between 4 and 5:
The Tully-Fisher Relation
Entire galaxies can also be

used as standard candles
because a galaxy’s
luminosity is related to its
rotation speed.
This method can be used

up to 600,000,000 light
years (charting out e.g.
the Virgo cluster and the
Coma cluster).
Explanation: More massive galaxies rotate faster and should also emit more
light.
L
V
Or

Next time: white dwarf supernovae (5th rung)
and distance-redshift relation (6th rung)
Or
The Cosmic Distance Ladder (cont’d)

Today: from white dwarf supernovae
to the distance-redshift relation
The 5th rung of the ladder: White Dwarf (Type 1a) supernovae
White dwarfs are the remnant cores of dead stars with core masses below 1.4 solar
masses. Fusion in their cores has stopped because their hydrogen and helium supplies
are exhausted, and only the degeneracy pressure of electrons prevents them form
further collapse. They glow because they are still hot, but eventually they will become
black dwarfs. However, sometimes intrusive neighbors won’t let them rest in peace…
Sometimes, white dwarfs in a binary system can accrete material from a companion
star. This can push their mass above the white dwarf mass limit (Chandrasekhar limit)
of 1.4 solar masses. In this case the white dwarf collapses and ignites fusion of the
heavy elements (carbon and oxygen) of which it is made the whole white dwarf
becomes a fusion bomb. The extremely bright nuclear explosion is seen as a
supernova in the sky.
® White dwarf
supernovae are
fusion bombs
with a specific amount
of igniting material
® Universal energy
output
® Universal luminosity
® Standard candles!
Typical supernova light curves
The remarkable and important fact is that there

are
variations in the light curves of massive star
supernovae, but white dwarf supernovae always
follow essentially the same light curve with a peak
luminosity about 10 billion times the luminosity
of the sun!
Step 5
The apparent
brightness of a
white dwarf
supernova tells
us the distance
to its galaxy (up
to 10 billion
light-years).
Note: Luminosity of white dwarf supernovae is gauged
using the distance to the supernovae-hosting galaxies
within 100,000,000 light years (i.e. through Cepheid
variable stars, step 4)!
Standard candles:
3rd rung: Star clusters
4th rung: Cepheid variable stars
Tully-Fisher: Disk galaxies
(meanwhile also elliptical galaxies)
5th rung: White dwarf supernovae
We measure galaxy distances using a
chain of interdependent techniques.

• How do we measure the distances to
galaxies?
– The distance measurement chain begins
with parallax measurements that build on
radar ranging in our solar system.
– Using parallax and the relationship
between luminosity, distance, and
brightness, we can calibrate a series of
standard candles.
– We can measure distances greater than
10 billion light-years using white dwarf
supernovae as standard candles.
20.2 continued: Hubble’s Law
Our goals for learning

• How did Hubble prove that galaxies lie far
beyond the Milky Way?
• What is Hubble’s law?
• How can we estimate the age of the universe
from Hubble’s law?
• How does the universe’s expansion affect our
distance measurements?
How did Hubble prove that galaxies lie far
beyond the Milky Way?
The Puzzle of “Spiral Nebulae”
• Before Hubble, some scientists argued that
“spiral nebulae” were entire galaxies like our
Milky Way, while others maintained they were
smaller collections of stars within the Milky Way.
• The debate remained unsettled until Edwin

Hubble finally measured the distance to
Andromeda.
Hubble settled the debate by measuring the distance
to the Andromeda Galaxy using Cepheid variables
as standard candles.
What is Hubble’s law?
The spectral features of virtually all galaxies are
redshifted, which means that they’re all moving away
from us.
By measuring
distances to
galaxies,
Hubble found
that redshift and
distance are
related in a
special way.
Hubble’s law: Velocity = H0

distance
The Hubble constant is
Distances to
the farthest
galaxies are
measured
from their
redshifts.
20.3: The Cosmological Principle and the Age of the Universe
The Cosmological Principle
The universe looks about the same no

matter where you are in the universe.
• Matter is evenly distributed on very large

scales in the universe.
• It has no center or boundaries.
• The cosmological principle has not been
proven beyond a doubt, but it is consistent
with all observations to date.
One example of something that expands but has no
center or edge is the surface of a balloon.
How does Hubble’s law tell us the age
of the universe?
Thought Question
Your friend leaves your house. She later calls
you on her cell phone, saying that she’s been
driving at 50 km an hour directly away from you
the whole time and is now 100 km away. How
long has she been gone?
A. 1 minute
B. 30 minutes
C. 60 minutes
D. 120 minutes
Thought Question
Your friend leaves your house. She later calls
you on her cell phone, saying that she’s been
driving at 50 km an hour directly away from you
the whole time and is now 100 km away. How
long has she been gone?
A. 1 minute
B. 30 minutes
C. 60 minutes
D. 120 minutes
Thought Question
You observe a galaxy moving away from you

at 0.1 light-years per year, and it is now 1.4
billion light-years away from you. How long
has it taken to get there?
A. 1 million years
B. 14 million years
C. 10 billion years
D. 14 billion years
Thought Question
You observe a galaxy moving away from you

at 0.1 light-years per year, and it is now 1.4
billion light-years away from you. How long
has it taken to get there?
A. 1 million years
B. 14 million years
C. 10 billion years
D. 14 billion years
How does the universe’s expansion affect
our distance measurements?
Lookback Time
• Distances between
faraway galaxies
change while light
travels.
• Astronomers think in
terms of lookback
time rather than
distance.
Lookback Time
• Expansion stretches photon wavelengths, causing a

cosmological redshift directly related to lookback time.
Distances between
faraway galaxies
change while light
travels.
Astronomers think
in terms of
lookback time
rather than
distance.
Example for the different distance measures:
Distances to spiral galaxy at redshift 0.03
•
•
•
•
Distances to spiral galaxy at redshift 2.18
•
•
•
•
Distances to a galaxy at redshift 7.51
•
•
•
•
Expansion stretches photon wavelengths, causing a
cosmological redshift directly related to lookback time.
• How did Hubble prove that galaxies lie
far beyond the Milky Way?
– He measured the distance to the
Andromeda Galaxy using Cepheid
variable stars as standard candles.
• What is Hubble’s law?
– The faster a galaxy is moving away from
us, the greater its distance:
Velocity = H0 Distance
• How do distance measurements tell us the age of
the universe?
– Measuring a galaxy’s distance and speed allows
us to figure out how long the galaxy took to reach
its current distance.
– Measuring Hubble’s constant tells us that amount
of time: about 14 billion years.
• How does the universe’s expansion affect our
distance measurements?
– Three distances: distance at photon emission,
light travel distance (lookback distance), distance
today.
– Lookback distance is the default distance
reported by astronomers.
Special topic: How is the age of the universe really
calculated? – Slide 1/6
This special topic is not relevant for any assignments or
exams!
This special topic shows that the actual formula for the age of the
universe involves the calculation of an integral. You can learn in ASTR
411.3 how to derive the formulas on the following slides.
Please ignore these slides unless you are really curious about
advanced physical science.
•
Special topic: How does it really work? – Slide 2/6
•
•
•
•
Chapter 21: Galaxy Evolution
The pair of interacting galaxies Arp 273 (UGC 1810 + UGC

1813)
is about 300 million light years away.
21.1 Looking Back Through Time

– How do we observe the life histories of
galaxies?
– How do we study galaxy formation?

How do we observe the life histories of
galaxies?

• Deep
observations
show us very
distant
galaxies as
they were
much earlier in
time (old light
from young
galaxies).

• Observing galaxies at different distances shows
us how they age.
How do we study galaxy formation?
We still can directly observe only very few very early galaxies.
Our best models for
galaxy formation
assume:
– Matter originally
filled all of space
almost uniformly.
– Gravity of denser
regions pulled in
surrounding matter.

• Denser regions
contracted,
forming
protogalactic
clouds.
• Hydrogen and
helium gas in
these clouds
formed the first
stars.

• Supernova
explosions from the
first stars kept much
of the gas from
forming stars.
→ Gas has more
time to settle into a
regular pattern.
• Leftover gas settled

into a spinning disk
due to the
conservation of
angular
momentum.

• How do we observe the life histories of

galaxies?
– Deep observations of the universe show us
the history of galaxies because we are seeing
galaxies as they were at different ages.
• How do we study galaxy formation?
– Our best models for galaxy formation assume
that gravity made galaxies out of regions in
the early universe that were slightly denser
than their surroundings.

21.2 The Lives of Galaxies

– Why do galaxies differ?
– What are starbursts?

• Why do galaxies differ?
• Why don't all galaxies have similar disks?
Conditions in Protogalactic Cloud?
• Spin: The initial angular momentum of the

protogalactic cloud could determine the size of
the resulting disk. Large initial angular momentum
would favor disk formation.
Conditions in Protogalactic Cloud?
• Density: Elliptical galaxies could come from

dense protogalactic clouds that were able to cool
and form stars before gas settled into a disk.

Distant Red Ellipticals
Observations of
some distant red
elliptical galaxies
support the idea
that most of their
stars formed very
early in the history
of the universe.

• We must also consider the effects of collisions.

• Collisions were much more likely early in time
because galaxies were closer together.
• Many of the galaxies we see at great distances
(and early times) do look violently disturbed.
Antennae galaxy (NGC 4038-4039), about 45 million light years away
The collisions we observe nearby trigger bursts of star formation.

Modeling such collisions on a computer shows that
two spiral galaxies can merge to make an elliptical.
However, close encounters or mergers with small

galaxies can also induce spiral density waves (i.e.
spiral arms) in larger disk galaxies.
• Shells of stars
observed
around some
elliptical
galaxies are
probably the
remains of past
collisions.
NGC 3923, about 70 million light years away

• Collisions may
explain why
elliptical
galaxies tend
to be found
where galaxies
are closer
together, e.g.
in the central
regions of
large clusters.

• Giant elliptical
galaxies at the
centers of
clusters seem
to have
consumed a
number of
smaller
galaxies.
The central galaxy in
Abell 3827, about 1.5
billion light years away,
has an estimated mass
of up to 30 trillion solar
masses!
Early stage in the collision between NGC 2207 (larger galaxy on the left)
and IC 2163, about 80 million light years away. Distance between the
galactic centers is about 100,000 light years. The gravitational pull from the
larger galaxy started tidal disruption of the smaller galaxy.
Picture credit: Hubble Space Telescope

Arp 271 (NGC 5426
and NGC 5427) is
another pair of
interacting galaxies
at a distance of
about 90 million
light-years.
Picture Credit:
European Southern
Observatory
What are starbursts?

The Cartwheel galaxy has a
ring shaped shock front
with a high star formation
rate as a consequence of a
bulls eye collision with a
smaller galaxy hundreds of
millions of years earlier.
The distance is about 500

million light years, the mass
is a few billion solar
masses, and the diameter
has been estimated at
about 150,000 light years.
Picture courtesy
GALEX/Caltech
Picture of the Cartwheel galaxy region released by the Hubble Space Telescope in
1996. Due to the hydrogen gas trail (identified by radio telescopes and indicated in
green), it is thought that the small galaxy at the end of the trail may have been to
collision partner.
Starburst galaxies
are forming stars
so quickly that they
would use up all
their gas in less
than a billion years.
Visible and UV
light from many
young, hot stars
heats interstellar
gas strong IR
emission
Arp 220, about 250 million light years away, likely resulted from the
merger of two Milky Way sized galaxies.
Visible-light image
Starburst galaxy
M82,
about 12 million light
years away.
Rapid formation of
many massive short
lived stars high
supernova rate!
(About 1 SN per
decade)
• Intensity of supernova explosions in starburst

galaxies can drive galactic winds.
M81 and M82 are only about 300,000 light years apart. Close encounters likely trigger starburst phases in M82.
Picture credit: Johannes Schedler (Panther Observatory)
A galactic wind in
a small galaxy
can drive away
most of its gas
® This will further

diminish or delay
star formation
after a starburst
had occurred.
Dwarf starburst
galaxy
NGC 1569,
years away.
With a mass of
only a few million
solar masses,
NGC 1569
produced about
100 new stars per
year during its
starburst phases
(for comparison:
The Milky Way
produces about 1-
10 new stars per
year)
Dwarf starburst galaxy

NGC 1569,
years away.
The irregular starburst
galaxy NGC 1427A is
falling into the Fornax
cluster at a speed of
about 600 km/s.
Compression of the
interstellar gas of the
Fornax cluster and the
galaxy triggers rapid
star formation.
The distance to
NGC 1427A is about
62 million light years.
Picture credit:
Hubble Space
Telescope
Image credit &
copyright:
R. Jay GaBany
(Blackbird
Observatory)
Messier 94 is about 16 million light-

years away and has starburst rings.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

• Why do galaxies differ?

– Some of the differences between galaxies may arise
from the conditions in their protogalactic clouds (e.g.
competition between angular momentum and mass
density).
– Collisions can play a major role because they can
transform two spiral galaxies into an elliptical galaxy,
or they can induce spiral arms.
• What are starbursts?
– A starburst galaxy is transforming its gas into stars
much more rapidly than a normal galaxy. Starburst
epochs likely last only a few million to a few ten
million years.
Galaxy formation and evolution is a very active field of science
with many open questions!
21.3 Quasars and Other Active Galactic
Nuclei

• What are quasars?
• What is the power source for quasars and other
active galactic nuclei?
• Do supermassive black holes really exist?
• How do quasars let us study gas between the
galaxies?

• If the center of a
galaxy is
unusually bright,
we call it an
active galactic
nucleus.
• Quasars are the
most luminous
examples.
Active nucleus in the galaxy M87 (Virgo A), about 55 million light years away
in the center of the Virgo cluster. The jet has a length of about 5,000 – 6,000
light years. (The M87 core is an AGN, not a quasar, but AGNs and quasars are manifestations
of the same “central engine” in active galaxy cores.)
Active galactic nuclei powerfully radiate energy over
a wide range of wavelengths, indicating that they
contain matter with a wide range of temperatures.

NGC 1672, about 60 million light years
away. Picture credit: Hubble Space
Telescope (VIS)
NGC 1097, about 45 million light years away.

Picture credit: Spitzer Space Telescope (IR)
Seyfert galaxies are spiral galaxies with very bright cores. The luminosity of the cores
can exceed the luminosity of the whole Milky Way galaxy. It is usually about 1037 W –
1038 W ~ 1 – 10 LMilky Way ~ 2×1010 - 2×1011 LSun.
A look at the inner regions of NGC 1097 shows a star forming ring of hydrogen
clouds about 5000 light-years across. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
The active
galactic nuclei in
radio galaxies are
even more
powerful, with
AGN luminosities
up to 1040 W, i.e.
these AGNs are
up to 1,000 times
brighter than the
whole Milky Way
galaxy!
Radio galaxies
have elliptical or
irregular shapes.
Radio galaxies contain active nuclei shooting out vast jets of plasma. The
jets can be slowed in intergalactic gas to form huge cloud like structures.
These radio lobes emit radio waves with a luminosity which still exceeds the
total luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy. The radio waves are emitted by
electrons that move at near light speed. The picture shows Cygnus A, about
600 million light years away.
The lobes of radio galaxies can extend over hundreds of
thousands of light-years.
The radio galaxy 3C 31 is about 210 million light years away.
Radio galaxies
don't appear
as quasars
because dusty
gas clouds
block our view
of the
accretion disk.

An active galactic nucleus
can shoot out blobs of
plasma moving at nearly the
speed of light.
These ejection speeds

suggest the presence of a
black hole.
The quasar 3C 345 is about

5.5 billion light years away.
• The highly redshifted spectra of quasars indicate large
distances.
• From brightness and distance we find that luminosities of

some quasars are greater than 1012 LSun.
• Variability shows that all this energy comes from a region

smaller than our solar system.

Thought Question
What can you conclude from the fact that quasars

usually have very large redshifts?
A. They are generally very distant.

B. They were more common early in time.
C. Galaxy collisions might turn them on.
D. Nearby galaxies might hold dead quasars.

Thought Question
What can you conclude from the fact that quasars

usually have very large redshifts?
A. They are generally very distant.

B. They were more common early in time.
C. Galaxy collisions might turn them on.
D. Nearby galaxies might hold dead quasars.
All of the above!

The quasar 3C 273 is about 2.1 – 2.5 billion light years away and has a luminosity
of about 1040 W ~ 1,000 LMilky Way ~ 2×1013 LSun (~ same luminosity as
brightest AGNs in radio galaxies). The jet extends to about 100,000 light years.
Picture credits: Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Galaxies around
AGNs and
quasars (when
resolved)
sometimes appear
disturbed by
collisions.
In particular,
nearby AGNs
(Seyfert and radio
galaxies) are likely
triggered by
collisions or close
encounters
→ newly formed
AGNs or re-ignited
quasars?
Characteristics of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Their luminosities can be enormous (1010 – 1014 LSun).

• Their luminosities can vary rapidly ( come from a space
smaller than solar system).
• They emit energy over a wide range of wavelengths (
contain matter with a wide temperature range +
synchrotron radiation from charged particles moving
around magnetic field lines).
• Some AGNs drive jets of plasma at near light speed.
→ What are the central engines of AGNs?

Accretion of gas onto a supermassive black hole
appears to be the only way to explain all the properties
of quasars and AGNs.
Energy from a Black Hole
• Gravitational potential energy of matter falling

towards black hole turns into kinetic energy,
electromagnetic energy (e.g. in magnetic fields
for the formation and collimation of jets), and
radiation.
• This process can convert 10 to 40% of rest
mass energy E = mc2 of the infalling material into
jets and radiation. The most powerful AGNs must
consume only about 10 solar masses per year to
maintain a luminosity of order 1013 LSUN.

Jets are thought to come from twisting of magnetic
field in the inner part of accretion disk.
Do supermassive black holes really exist?

Orbits of stars
at center of
Milky Way
indicate a
black hole with
mass of
4 million MSun.

Doppler shift from different sections of gas cloud yields rotation
speed v of 800 km/s around M87 nucleus. Radius r is about 60
light-years GM = v2·r yields mass M of the nucleus.
The orbital speed and distance of gas orbiting the
center of the galaxy M87 indicate a black hole with
mass of about 3 billion MSun.
Black Holes in Galaxies
• Many nearby galaxies—perhaps all of them—

have supermassive black holes at their centers.
• These black holes seem to be dormant active
galactic nuclei.
• All galaxies may have passed through a quasar-
like stage earlier in time.

Galaxies and Black Holes
The mass of a
galaxy’s central
black hole is
closely related
to the mass of
its bulge. The
central black
hole mass is
typically 2-5
per mil of the
bulge mass.

Galaxies and Black Holes
The development
of the central black
hole must be
somehow related
to galaxy
evolution.

Binary black hole
system 3C 75 in the
center of the merging
galaxy NGC 1128,
years way. The
distance between the
black holes is about
25,000 light years.
Blue: X-ray (Chandra)

Pink: Radio (NRAO,
Very Large Array)
Picture credit: Chandra
X-ray Observatory
3C 75 close up
How do quasars let us study gas between
the galaxies?
Gas clouds between a quasar and Earth absorb some of the

quasar's light.
We can learn about protogalactic clouds by studying the
absorption lines they produce in quasar spectra.
We can learn about protogalactic clouds by studying
the absorption lines they produce in quasar spectra.
Location of absorption lines redshift distance.
Intensity of absorption lines Depth of cloud times
density of cloud.
• What are quasars?

– Active galactic nuclei are very bright
objects seen in the centers of some
galaxies, and quasars are the most
luminous type.
• What is the power source for quasars and
other active galactic nuclei?
– The only model that adequately explains
the observations holds that the central
engines (or power sources) of AGNs
consist of mass falling into supermassive
black holes.

• Do supermassive black holes really exist?

– Observations of stars and gas clouds
orbiting at the centers of galaxies indicate
that many galaxies, and perhaps all of them,
have supermassive black holes.
• How do quasars let us study gas between the
galaxies?
– Absorption lines in the spectra of quasars
tell us about intergalactic clouds between
those quasars and Earth.

Chapter 22: The Birth of the Universe

22.1 The Big Bang Theory

– What were conditions like in the early
universe?
– How did the early universe change with
time?

•

• Photons converted
into particle–
antiparticle pairs
and vice versa.
E = mc2
• The early universe

was full of particles
and radiation
because of its high
temperature.

• Four known forces in
universe:
Strong force
Electromagnetism
Weak force
Gravity

Do forces unify at high temperatures?
• Four known forces
in universe:
Strong force
Electromagnetism
Weak force
Yes!
Gravity
(Electroweak
)
in universe:
Strong force
Electromagnetism
Weak force
Gravity
Remember Angels and

Yes! Mayb Demons:
(Electroweak e “No GUTs – no glory”
) (GUT)
in universe:
Strong force
Electromagnetism
Weak force
Yes! Mayb Who knows?

Gravity
(Electroweak e (String
) (GUT) Theory)
How did the early universe change with
time?

Planck era
Before Planck
time (~10–43
second)
We have ideas,
but we don’t really
know anything
about the Planck
era: No theory of
quantum gravity

GUT era
• Lasts from
Planck time
(~10–43
second) to end
of GUT force
(~10–38
second)
• Two forces rule:
Gravity and
GUT force

Electroweak era
• Lasts from end

of GUT force
(~10–38 second)
to end of
electroweak
force (~10–10
second).
• Gravity, strong
force and
electroweak
force rule.

Particle era
• Amounts of
matter and
antimatter nearly
equal (roughly 1
extra proton for
every 109
proton–
antiproton pairs!)
• All four forces
that we see
today are in
effect.
Era of
nucleosynthesis
Begins when matter

annihilates
remaining
anti-matter at
~ 0.001 second.
Helium nuclei form at

age ~ 3 minutes.
Reason: Universe
became too cool to
blast helium apart.

Era of nuclei
A plasma of
electrons and H
and He nuclei
filled the universe.

Era of atoms
Atoms form at age

~ 380,000 years.
Background
radiation released.
Last intensive
scattering of
primordial light:
“Surface of last
scatter”
Era of galaxies
Galaxies form at
age ~ 1 billion
years
(first galaxies
may have formed
at around 200 -
300 million years
after the Big
Bang).

• What were conditions like in the early

universe?
– The early universe was so hot and so dense
that radiation was constantly producing
particle–antiparticle pairs and vice versa.
• How did the early universe change with time?
– As the universe cooled, particle production
stopped, leaving matter instead of antimatter.
– Fusion turned remaining neutrons into helium.
– Radiation traveled freely after formation of
atoms.
22.2 Evidence for the Big Bang

– How do observations of the cosmic
microwave background support the Big
Bang theory?
– How do the abundances of elements
support the Big Bang theory?

Primary Evidence
1) We have detected the leftover radiation from

the Big Bang.
2) The Big Bang theory correctly predicts the

abundance of helium and other light elements.

How do observations of the cosmic
microwave background support the Big
Bang theory?

The cosmic
microwave
background –
the radiation left
over from the Big
Bang – was
detected by
Penzias and
Wilson in 1965.

• Background radiation from Big Bang has been
freely streaming across universe since atoms
formed at temperature ~ 3000 K: visible/IR.
• Background has perfect thermal radiation
spectrum at temperature 2.73 K.
• Expansion of universe has redshifted thermal

radiation from that time to ~1000 times longer
wavelength: microwaves.

• COBE, WMAP and Planck gave us detailed baby
pictures of structure in the universe.
How do the abundances of elements support the
Big Bang theory?
Protons and neutrons combined to make long-lasting

helium nuclei when universe was ~ 3 minutes old.

• Big Bang theory prediction: 75% H, 25% He (by
mass). This prediction matches observations of
primordial gases.
Thought Question
Which of these abundance patterns is an

unrealistic chemical composition for a star?
A. 70% H, 28% He, 2% other

B. 95% H, 5% He, less than 0.02% other
C. 75% H, 25% He, less than 0.02% other
D. 72% H, 27% He, 1% other

Thought Question
Which of these abundance patterns is an

unrealistic chemical composition for a star?
A. 70% H, 28% He, 2% other

B. 95% H, 5% He, less than 0.02% other
C. 75% H, 25% He, less than 0.02% other
D. 72% H, 27% He, 1% other

• How do observations of the cosmic microwave

background support the Big Bang theory?
– Radiation left over from the Big Bang is now in
the form of microwaves – the cosmic microwave
background – which we can observe with a
radio telescope.
• How do the abundances of elements support
the Big Bang theory?
– Observations of helium and other light elements
agree with the predictions for fusion in the Big
Bang theory.

22.3 The Big Bang and Inflation

– What key features of the universe are
explained by inflation?
– Did inflation really occur?

Mysteries Needing Explanation
1) Where does structure come from?
2) Why is the overall distribution of matter so

uniform?
3) Why is the density of the universe so close to

the critical density?

Mysteries Needing Explanation
1) Where does structure come from?
2) Why is the overall distribution of matter so

uniform?
3) Why is the density of the universe so close to

the critical density?
An early episode of rapid inflation can solve all

three mysteries!

• Inflation can
make all the
structure by
stretching tiny
quantum ripples
to enormous size.
• These ripples in
density then
become the
seeds for all
structures in the
universe.

• How can microwave temperature be nearly
identical on opposite sides of the sky?
• Regions now on opposite sides of the sky were
close together before inflation pushed them far
apart.
• Density = Critical • Overall
geometry of
the universe
is closely
• Density > Critical related to
total density
of matter and
energy.
• Density < Critical

• Inflation of the
universe flattens
its overall
geometry like the
inflation of a
balloon, causing
the overall
density of matter
plus energy to be
very close to the
critical density.

Did inflation really occur?
Angular separation
Credit: Planck Collaboration

• Patterns observed by PLANCK show us the
"seeds" of structure in the universe.
Did inflation really occur?
Temperature differences are greatest

between patches separated by 1°
Angular separation
Observed patterns of structure in universe agree with the "seeds"
that inflation would produce. Credit: Planck Collaboration
"Seeds" Inferred from CMB
• Overall geometry is flat.

– Total mass + energy has critical density.
• Ordinary matter is ~ 5% of total.
• Total matter is ~ 31% of total.
– Dark matter is ~ 26% of total.
– Dark energy is ~ 69% of total.
• Age is 13.8 billion years.
• Updated values from Particle Data Group.
"Seeds" Inferred from CMB
• Overall geometry is flat.

– Total mass + energy has critical density.
• Ordinary matter is ~ 5% of total.
• Total matter is ~ 31% of total.
– Dark matter is ~ 26% of total.
– Dark energy is ~ 69% of total.
• Age is 13.8 billion years.
• Updated values from Particle Data Group.
In excellent agreement with observations of present-day

universe and models involving inflation and WIMPs!
• What key features of the universe are

explained by inflation?
– The origin of structure, the smoothness of the
universe on large scales, the nearly critical
density of the universe.
– Structure comes from inflated quantum
ripples.
– Observable universe became smooth before
inflation, when it was very tiny.
– Inflation flattened the curvature of space,
bringing expansion rate into balance with the
overall density of mass-energy.

• Did inflation really occur?

– We can compare the structures we see in
detailed observations of the microwave
background with predictions for the "seeds"
that should have been planted by inflation.
– So far, our observations of the universe agree
well with models in which inflation planted the
"seeds."

22.4 Observing the Big Bang for Yourself

– Why is the darkness of the night sky
evidence for the Big Bang?

Olbers' Paradox
If universe were
1) infinite
2) unchanging
3) everywhere
the same
then stars would cover

the night sky.
The night sky would have to be extremely bright if the universe

would be static, uniform, and infinitely large.
The amount of luminosity
passing through each sphere is
the same.
Area of sphere:
4 (radius)2
® Brightness of a single star
decreases like 1/distance2.
However, number of stars in a
spherical shell increases like
distance2 in a uniform static
universe.
® Every shell should have the
same brightness.
® Taken together, infinitely many
shells generate infinite
brightness!
Olbers’ Paradox (in its most
radical form, which does not take
into account stellar evolution,
energy conservation, and photon
absorption/scattering).
• The night sky is dark because the universe
changes with time. As we look out in space, we
can look back to a time when there were no
stars.

• Why is the darkness of the night sky evidence
for the Big Bang?
– If the universe were eternal, unchanging, and
everywhere the same, the entire night sky would
be covered with stars.
– The night sky is dark because we can see back
to a time when there were no stars.
– Stated more scientifically: The night sky is dark
because we can only see a finite part in a
universe of finite age – there is a horizon in a
universe of finite age. Furthermore, the light of
distant stars is redshifted beyond visibility due to
the expansion of the universe.
22.4 Observing the Big Bang for Yourself

– Why is the darkness of the night sky
evidence for the Big Bang?

Olbers' Paradox
If universe were
1) infinite
2) unchanging
3) everywhere
the same
then stars would cover

the night sky.
The night sky would have to be extremely bright if the universe

would be static, uniform, and infinitely large.
The amount of luminosity
passing through each sphere is
the same.
Area of sphere:
4 (radius)2
® Brightness of a single star
decreases like 1/distance2.
However, number of stars in a
spherical shell increases like
distance2 in a uniform static
universe.
® Every shell should have the
same brightness.
® Taken together, infinitely
many shells generate infinite
brightness!
Olbers’ Paradox (in its most
radical form, which does not take
into account stellar evolution,
energy conservation, and photon
absorption/scattering).
• The night sky is dark because the universe
changes with time. As we look out in space, we
can look back to a time when there were no
stars.

• Why is the darkness of the night sky evidence
for the Big Bang?
– If the universe were eternal, unchanging, and
everywhere the same, the entire night sky would
be covered with stars.
– The night sky is dark because we can see back
to a time when there were no stars.
– Stated more scientifically: The night sky is dark
because we can only see a finite part in a
universe of finite age – there is a horizon in a
universe of finite age. Furthermore, the light of
distant stars is redshifted beyond visibility due to
the expansion of the universe.
Chapter 23: Dark Matter, Dark Energy,
and the Fate of the Universe

23.1 “Unseen” Influences in the
Cosmos
• What do we mean by dark matter and dark
energy?
Remark: “Unseen” means only detected through its

gravitational or cosmological effects, but not
detected by any other means.
Unseen Influences
• Dark Matter: A not directly seen form of mass

that neither emits nor absorbs light, but whose
existence we infer from its gravitational
influence.
• Dark Energy: An unknown form of energy that

seems to be the source of a repulsive force
causing the expansion of the universe to
accelerate.

Dark Matter is the stuff that holds
galaxies together.
It is concentrated around galaxies.
Picture: Galaxy NGC 1232, about 60 million

light years away. Credit: ESO
Dark Energy is uniformly

distributed in the universe.
It drives the cosmic expansion:
It makes the distances between
galaxies grow at ever faster
speed.
Picture: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Credit: Hubble Space Telescope
9
Contents of Universe
• "Ordinary" matter (“baryons”): ~ 5%

– Ordinary matter inside stars is less than 1%
• Dark matter: ~ 26.5%
• Dark energy: ~ 68.5%

• What do we mean by dark matter and dark

energy?
– Dark matter is the name given to not “directly”
visible mass whose gravity governs the
observed motions of stars and gas clouds.
– Dark energy is the name given to whatever
might be causing the expansion of the
universe to accelerate.

23.2 Evidence for Dark Matter

– What is the evidence for dark matter in
galaxies?
– What is the evidence for dark matter in
clusters of galaxies?
– Does dark matter really exist?
– What might dark matter be made of?

What is the evidence for dark matter in
galaxies?

Rotation curve
• A plot of orbital
velocity versus
orbital radius
• The solar
system's rotation
curve declines
because the Sun
has almost all
the mass.

How does a system with negligible dark matter behave?
← Almost all the

Mercury mass M of the
solar system is
concentrated in
the Sun
→ Newtonian
Plut gravity implies
o
↓
v2 = GM/r
Rotation curve for the solar system. Shown are the average
orbital velocities and distances to the Sun for the 8 planets and
Pluto.
Mass of the Sun: 2x1030 kg, mass of planets: 2.7x1027 kg,
Mass of dark matter inside Pluto’s orbit: ~4x1017 kg.
• The rotation
curve of the
Milky Way
stays flat with
distance.
• Mass must be
more spread
out than in the
solar system.

• Mass in the
Milky Way is
spread out over
a larger region
than its stars.
• Most of the Milky

Way's mass
seems to be
dark matter!

• Mass within
the Sun's orbit:
1.0
1011MSun
• Total mass:
~1012MSun

• The visible
portion of a
galaxy lies deep
in the heart of a
large halo of
dark matter.

• We can
measure the
rotation
curves of
other spiral
galaxies
using the
Doppler shift
of the 21-cm
line of atomic
hydrogen.

• Spiral galaxies all tend to have flat rotation
curves, indicating large amounts of dark matter.
• Broadening of
spectral lines in
elliptical galaxies
tells us how fast the
stars are orbiting.
• These galaxies also

have dark matter.

What is the evidence for dark matter in
• We can
measure the
velocities of
galaxies in a
cluster from
their Doppler
shifts.

• The mass we
find from galaxy
motions in a
cluster is about
50 times larger
than the mass in
stars!

• Clusters contain
large amounts of
X ray-emitting hot
gas.
• Temperature of
hot gas (particle
motions) tells us
cluster mass:
85% dark matter

13% hot gas
2% stars

• Gravitational lensing, the bending of light rays
by gravity, can also tell us a cluster's mass.
Putting galaxies and galaxy clusters on scales:
How gravitational lensing determines mass
All three methods of measuring cluster mass (galaxy
motion, X-ray gas temperature, gravitational lensing)
indicate similar amounts of dark matter in galaxy
clusters.
Luminosity distance versus redshift
Blue: Flat, only dark energy

Ωm = 0, ΩΛ = 1
Black: Flat ΛCDM model

Mixture of matter and dark
energy
Ωm = 0.315, ΩΛ = 0.685
Red: Flat CDM model, only

matter, Ωm = 1, ΩΛ = 0
Most distant known type 1a supernova has redshift

z = 1.914 → lookback distance is 10.4 billion light-years.
Hubble constant used: H0 = 20.63 (km/s)/Mlyr

Does dark matter really exist?

Our Options
. Dark matter really exists, and we are observing

the effects of its gravitational attraction.
. Something is wrong with our understanding of

gravity, causing us to mistakenly infer the
existence of dark matter.

Our Options
. Dark matter really exists, and we are observing

the effects of its gravitational attraction.
. Something is wrong with our understanding of

gravity, causing us to mistakenly infer the
existence of dark matter.
Because gravity is so well tested, and because

option #2 is really hard to reconcile with the
bullet cluster, most astronomers and physicists
consider option #1 more likely.

1E 0657-56 (the “bullet cluster”), about 3.3 billion light years away.
The two component clusters are now about 2 million light years apart.
Picture credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M. Markevitch et al.;

Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U. Arizona/D. Clowe et al.;
Published 2006 on chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/1e0657/
Left behind gas
↓ ↓
↑ ↑
Main (dark) mass components revealed through gravitational lensing
The collision has stripped the clusters of their gas (X-ray image from
Chandra), but gravitational lensing (observed with the Hubble Space
Telescope and the Magellan telescopes) reveals that they took most
of their mass (dark matter) with them.
• Bullet type clusters are very difficult to explain
without dark matter.
Different cluster, same story.
MACS J0025.4-1222 is
5.5 billion light-years away.
Credit: NASA/ESA/CXC, M. Bradac & S. Allen

Picture released in 2008, see hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/32/
What might dark matter be made of?

• Measurements
of light element
abundances
indicate that
ordinary matter
cannot account
for all of the dark
matter.

• How dark is dark matter?
… not directly visible like stars or gas.

Two Basic Options
• “Ordinary” Dark Matter
Matter made of known particles like protons,
neutrons, electrons, but too dark to detect with
current instruments
e.g. MACHOs (Massive Compact Halo Objects):
Brown dwarfs, but not enough were found in
microlensing to account for dark matter.
• Extraordinary Dark Matter

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs):
Particles which interact so weakly that they have
not yet been seen in particle physics labs.
Two Basic Options

– Matter made of known particles like protons,
current instruments
ruled out by micro-lensing, bullet clusters,
structure formation, big bang nucleosynthesis,
cosmic microwave background

– Weakly Interacting Massive Particles
(WIMPs)

• What is the evidence for dark matter in

galaxies?
– Rotation curves of galaxies are flat, indicating
that most of their matter lies outside their
visible regions.
• What is the evidence for dark matter in
– Masses measured from galaxy motions,
temperature of hot gas, and gravitational
lensing all indicate that the vast majority of
matter in clusters is dark.

• Does dark matter really exist?

– Either dark matter exists or our understanding
of gravity must be revised.
• What might dark matter be made of?
– There does not seem to be enough normal
(baryonic) matter to account for all the dark
matter, so most astronomers and physicists
suspect that dark matter is made of (non-
baryonic) particles that have not yet been
observed in particle physics labs.

How much dark matter is around us in this room?
– Typical local densities
Density of water 1 g/cm3
Density of air 1.2 10-3 g/cm3
Local dark matter density 4.2…17 10-25 g/cm3

(0.235…0.95 GeV/cm3)
Average density in the universe 1 10-29 g/cm3

(in all forms of energy)
What might dark matter be made of?
• How dark is dark matter?
… not directly visible like stars or gas.

Two Basic Options
Matter made of known particles like protons,
current instruments
e.g. MACHOs (Massive Compact Halo Objects):
Brown dwarfs, but not enough were found in
microlensing to account for dark matter.

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs):
Particles which interact so weakly that they have
not yet been seen in particle physics labs.
Two Basic Options

– Matter made of known particles like protons,
current instruments
ruled out by micro-lensing, bullet clusters,
structure formation, big bang nucleosynthesis,
cosmic microwave background

– Weakly Interacting Massive Particles
(WIMPs)

How much dark matter is around us in this room?
– Typical local densities
Density of water 1 g/cm3
Density of air 1.2 10-3 g/cm3
Local dark matter density 4.2…17 10-25 g/cm3

(0.235…0.95 GeV/cm3)
Average density in the universe 1 10-29 g/cm3

(in all forms of energy)
23.3 Dark Matter and Galaxy Formation

– What is the role of dark matter in galaxy
formation?
– What are the largest structures in the
universe?

What is the role of dark matter in galaxy
formation?
• Gravity of dark matter is what caused

protogalactic clouds to contract early in time.

WIMPs can't
collapse to the
center because
they don't radiate
away their orbital
energy.
This explains why
our solar system
is dominated by
the mass of the
ordinary matter of
our sun.

• Dark matter is still pulling
things together.
• After correcting for
Hubble's law, we can see
that galaxies are flowing
toward the densest
regions of space.
• The velocity of a galaxy
after subtracting the
cosmic expansion is
called its peculiar velocity,
i.e. it is not due to cosmic
expansion but due to
gravitational pull.
• Peculiar velocities reveal
the distribution of dark
matter in large scale
structures.

What are the largest structures in the
universe?

• Maps of galaxy positions reveal extremely large
structures: superclusters and voids.
Laniakea: the local supercluster structure
About 520 million light-years across, about 1017 solar

masses
RB Tully et al. Nature 513, 71-73 (2014) doi:10.1038/nature13674
The Sloan Great Wall (discovered in 2003) is one of the
largest known structures in the universe: about 1.4 billion light
years across and about 150 million light years deep.
Beyond a distance (lookback time) of about 2
billion light years the distribution of galaxies starts
to look isotropic (i.e. uniform).
The supercluster
structure of the
local universe
within a radius of
about 360 million
light years
(1993 data).
The black dot is

our Local Group at
the outskirts of the
Virgo supercluster.
Picture courtesy
Michael Hudson,
University of
Waterloo.
Time in billions of years
0. 2. 5. 8. 13.7
5 2 9 6
13 35 70 93 14
0
Size of expanding box in millions of light-
• Models years
show that gravity of dark matter pulls mass into
denser regions—the universe grows lumpier with time.

• Structures in galaxy maps look very similar to the
ones found in models in which dark matter is
WIMPs.
The “End of Greatness”:
The scale of homogeneity in the ΛCDM Universe
In 2010 Yadav, Bagla and Khandai found the

estimate 1.2 billion light-years for the scale of
homogeneity (size of maximal structure) in our
ΛCDM Universe. They used WMAP 5-year
cosmological parameters for their simulations.
The variation of ΔDq and its predicted standard deviation with scale is
shown in these plots (Fig. 2 from the paper by Yadav et al.).
Jaswant K. Yadav, J.S. Bagla and Nishikanta Khandai, MNRAS 405 (2010) 2009-2015.
Figure courtesy Jaswant Yadav et al.

© 2010 Yadav, Bagla and Khandai. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS
Why is Dark Matter critical for
Structure Formation?
• Overdense regions needed to form and start
growing before the universe was 380,000 years
old to explain the large scale structure seen
today.
• Ordinary matter was prevented by radiation to
form clumps before the universe was 380,000
years old.
• Dark matter does not interact with radiation and
could start to form clumps already a few
thousand years after the Big Bang.
• What is the role of dark matter in galaxy formation?
– The gravity of dark matter seems to be what drew gas
together into protogalactic clouds, initiating the process
of galaxy formation.
– WIMP dark matter can also start to form clumps before
ordinary matter could form clumps.
• What are the largest structures in the universe?
– Galaxies appear to be distributed in gigantic chains
and sheets that surround great voids.
– The largest confirmed structures (like the Sloan Great
Wall) have a size of order of a billion light years, and
likely there are no larger structures than that (the
astronomical “End of Greatness”).

23.4 Dark Energy and the Fate of the
Universe

– Why is accelerating expansion evidence for
dark energy?
– What is the fate of the universe?

Why is accelerating expansion evidence for
dark energy?

• The fate of
the universe
depends on
the amount
of dark
matter.

• Since the amount of
dark matter is ~25%
of the critical
density, we expect
the expansion of
the universe to
overcome its
gravitational pull.

In fact, the
expansion appears
to be speeding up!
This can be
explained if there is
a uniformly
distributed form of
energy in the
universe, which has
not yet been
observed otherwise:
Dark Energy

• Estimated age depends on the amount of both
dark matter and dark energy.
• The brightness of distant white dwarf supernovae
tells us how much the universe has expanded
since they exploded.
• An accelerating universe best fits the supernova
data.
Blue: Flat, only dark energy

Ωm = 0, ΩΛ = 1
Black: Flat ΛCDM model

Mixture of matter and dark
energy
Ωm = 0.315, ΩΛ = 0.685
Red: Flat CDM model, only

matter, Ωm = 1, ΩΛ = 0
Most distant known type 1a supernova has redshift

z = 1.914 → lookback distance is 10.4 billion light-years.
Hubble constant used: H0 = 20.63 (km/s)/Mlyr

Which movie featured a dark
energy lab?
(which was destroyed in the
opening scenes)
What is the fate of the universe?

Best bets for the distant future
• The Epoch of Island Universes: Huge, cold,

isolated supergalaxies of dead stars in an
ever exponentially expanding universe.
• The Epoch of Black Holes: Supermassive
black holes in an ever exponentially
expanding universe.
• Universes reborn inside supermassive black
holes? We don’t know. Any decent
speculation about this would require a theory
of quantum gravity (Strings? Spin foam? …?)
• Will the universe continue to expand forever?

– Current measurements indicate that there is not
enough dark matter to prevent the universe from
expanding forever.
• Is the expansion of the universe accelerating?
– An accelerating universe is the best explanation for
the distances we measure when using white dwarf
supernovae as standard candles.
– A large amount of uniformly distributed energy (about
68.5% of the total energy density in the universe) can
explain the observed acceleration of cosmic
expansion. This uniformly distributed form of energy
is denoted as Dark Energy.
Chapter 24: Life in the Universe

24.1 Life on Earth

– When did life arise on Earth?
– How did life arise on Earth?
– What are the necessities of life?

When did life arise on Earth?

Earliest Life Forms
• Life probably arose on Earth more than 3.85

billion years ago, shortly after the end of heavy
bombardment.
• Evidence comes from fossils, carbon isotopes.

Fossils in Sedimentary Rock
• Relative ages: deeper layers formed earlier

• Absolute ages: radiometric dating, i.e. determination
of the age of a material from abundance of
radioactive isotopes and decay products.
Fossils in Sedimentary Rock
• Rock layers of the Grand Canyon record 2 billion

years of Earth's history.

The Geological Time Scale

Origin of Life on Earth
• Life evolves through time.

• All life on Earth shares a common ancestry.
• We may never know exactly how the first
organism arose, but laboratory experiments
suggest plausible scenarios.

The Theory of Evolution
• The fossil record

shows that evolution
has occurred
through time.
• Darwin's theory tells
us HOW evolution
occurs: through
natural selection.
• Theory supported by
discovery of DNA:
evolution proceeds
through mutations.

Laboratory Experiments
• The Miller-Urey
experiment (and
more recent
experiments) show
that the building
blocks of life form
easily and
spontaneously
under the
conditions of early
Earth.

Chemicals to Life?

Could life have migrated to Earth?
• Venus, Earth, Mars have exchanged tons of rock

(blasted into orbit by impacts).
• Some microbes can survive years in space.

Brief History of Life
• 4.4 billion years ago - early oceans form

• 3.5 billion years ago - cyanobacteria start
releasing oxygen
• 2.0 billion years ago - oxygen begins building up
in atmosphere
• 540–500 million years ago - Cambrian Explosion
• 225–65 million years ago - dinosaurs and small
mammals (dinosaurs ruled)
• Few million years ago - earliest hominids
appeared

Origin of Oxygen
• Cyanobacteria
paved the way
for more
complicated life
forms by
releasing
oxygen into
atmosphere via
photosynthesis.

Necessities for Life
• A nutrient source
• Energy (sunlight, chemical reactions, internal
heat)
• Liquid water (or possibly some other liquid)
Hardest to find on
other planets

Possible solvents
• Water (H2O) is liquid between 273 K and
373 K.
• Ammonia (NH3) is liquid between 195 K
and 240 K
• Methane (CH4) is liquid between 91 K and
111 K
• …or could there be metabolic reactions in a
gas matrix?
• …or could there be life forms which use
transport of energy and information in a
solid matrix?
• When did life arise on Earth?

– Life arose at least 3.85 billion years ago,
shortly after end of heavy bombardment.
• How did life arise on Earth?
– Life evolved from a common organism
through natural selection, but we do not yet
know the origin of the first organism.
• What are the necessities of life?
– Nutrients, energy, and liquid water.

24.3 Life around Other Stars

– What kinds of star might have habitable
planets?
– Are Earth-like planets rare or common?

Habitable Planets
• Definition:
– A habitable world contains the basic
necessities for life as we know it, including
liquid water.
– It does not necessarily have life.

Constraints on star systems with habitable planets:
1) Old enough to allow time for evolution (rules out

high-mass stars - 1%).
2) Need to have stable orbits (might rule out many
binary/multiple star systems - 50%).
3) Size of “habitable zone”: region in which a planet
of the right size could have liquid water on its
surface.
4) Red dwarf stars could have too many eruptions to
support life on a planet in its otherwise habitable
zone (frequent eruptions would make habitable
zone uninhabitable).
Even with these constraints, billions of stars in the Milky
Way could potentially have habitable worlds.
• The more massive the star, the larger its habitable zone –
and the higher probability of a planet existing in this zone.
• But if the star has too much mass, then it is too short-lived
for evolution of life on its planets.
The search for habitable planets is connected
to the general search for exoplanets.
Search methods:
- Planetary transits in front of host star
- Systematic variations in radial velocities of the host star
The COROT telescope monitored some
120,000 stars for planetary transits.
It was operational 2006-2012.
Picture credit:
ESA/CNES
Kepler (fully operational 2009-2013,
finally retired in 2018)
monitored about
145,000 stars with
distances up to
3,000 light-years
for transit events.
Picture credits:
NASA/Kepler
Spectral Signatures of Life
Venus
Oxygen/Ozone
Earth
Only Earth would
show signs of
photosynthesis
Mars

• What kinds of stars might have habitable

planets?
– Billions of stars have sizable habitable zones,
but we don't yet know how many have
terrestrial planets in those zones.
• Are Earth-like planets rare or common?
– We don't yet know because we are still trying
to understand all the factors that make Earth
suitable for life.

24.4 The Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence

– How many civilizations are out there?
– How does SETI work?

How many civilizations are out there?
The Drake Equation
• Number of civilizations with whom we could
potentially communicate
= NHP flife fciv fnow
• NHP = total number of habitable planets in

galaxy
• flife = fraction of habitable planets with life
• fciv = fraction of life-bearing planets with
civilization at some time
• fnow = fraction of civilizations around now
How does SETI work?
SETI experiments look for deliberate signals from extra-

terrestrials sent into space (not for “electromagnetic pollution”
from their local communications)
We have even sent a few signals
ourselves…
Message sent from
the Arecibo Radio
Telescope in 1974.
Earth to globular cluster M13: Hoping we’ll

hear back in about 42,000 years!
• How many civilizations are out there?

– We don't know, but the Drake equation gives
us a framework for thinking about the question.
• How does SETI work?
– Some telescopes are looking for deliberate
communications from other worlds.

24.5 Interstellar Travel and its Implications
for Civilization

– How difficult is interstellar travel?
– Where are the aliens?

How difficult is interstellar travel?
Current Spacecraft
• Current spacecraft travel at <1/10,000c; 100,000
years to the nearest stars
Pioneer plaque Voyager record

Difficulties of Interstellar Travel
• Far more efficient engines are needed.

• Energy requirements are enormous.
• Ordinary interstellar particles become like cosmic rays.
• Social complications of time dilation.
Where are the aliens?
Fermi's Paradox
• Plausible arguments suggest that civilizations

should be common. For example, even if only
1 in 1 million stars gets a civilization at some
time 100,000 civilizations
• So why we haven't we detected them?

Possible solutions to the paradox
1) We are alone: life/civilization is much rarer

than we might have guessed.
Our own planet/civilization looks all the more
precious…

1) Civilizations are common, but interstellar

travel is not because:
● interstellar travel is very difficult.
● the desire to explore is rare.
● civilizations destroy themselves before
achieving interstellar travel.
or…
1) There IS another galactic civilization…

… and some day we’ll meet them.
or…
4) They are really smart (and ethical) and

follow the Prime Directive (just like
Kathryn Janeway ☺)
The SciFi
Connection
Science fiction and the universe would be much more

boring
If we know of a place, we want to see the place:
Motivations for interplanetary travel in science fiction
- Economic development (e.g. in the movie Passengers)
For the wrong reasons: Colonialization
(e.g. the movies Independence Day, Avatar)
Motivations for interplanetary travel in
science fiction
Environmental disaster (e.g. Interstellar)
- Needs of other species (e.g. Arrival)
Motivations for interplanetary travel
in science fiction
Death of our sun ( but projected to
much closer in our future, e.g.
Sunshine)
An early concept of interstellar travel:
Freeman Dyson’s push plate design
Artist’s impression of the NASA push plate design using thermonuclear detonations.
This design concept originated in the 1950s
Modern designs assume breakthroughs in fusion power
• Far more efficient engines are needed.

• Energy requirements are enormous.
Artist’s impression of a fusion powered spaceship.
Picture credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab
Design study for a colony ship for 10,000 people ©Steve Summerford 2012
Energy cost is prohibitive
• Energy required to accelerate a spaceship with
mass 100,000 metric tons (equivalent to about 33
Saturn V rockets, still way too small for a generation
ship) to 0.01c is 4.5x1020 Joule. This would
correspond to about 110,000 megatons TNT. For
comparison, world energy production in 2018 was
about 6x1020 Joule. The global arsenal of nuclear
warheads might amount to about 1,400 megatons
TNT. Would still take over 400 years to Proxima
Centauri (16 generations of a small crew → serious
risks to biological and technological health).
• But then again, if we could completely convert only 5
metric tons of some material into usable energy, we
would have the 4.5x1020 Joule.
Energy cost for very many generations
journey
• Energy required to accelerate a generation ship with
mass 30,000,000 metric tons (equivalent to about
10,000 Saturn V rockets) to 42 km/s (local escape
velocity from solar system) is 2.65x1019 Joule. This
would correspond to about 6,300 megatons TNT.
For comparison, world energy production in 2018
was about 6x1020 Joule.
• Would require development of advanced fusion
power plants to harvest interstellar gas for power
supply during journey.
• Would take more than 30,000 years to reach
Proxima Centauri (1,200 generations of space
travelers).
• How difficult is interstellar travel?

– Interstellar travel remains well beyond our
current capabilities and poses enormous
difficulties.
• Where are the aliens?
– Some people suggest that if interstellar
civilizations are common then at least one of
them should have colonized the rest of the
galaxy.
– Are we alone? Has there been no colonization?
Are the colonists hiding? We don't know yet.

A video describing the future collision of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies is here:
https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/videos/2012/20/694-Video.html?keyword=2012-20&news=true
NASA/ESA/STScI also provided pictures of how the night sky will evolve during various stages of the
collision (from now until about 7 billion years from now):
The pictures can also be found here:

https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2012/news-2012-20.html?keyword=2012-20#section-id-2

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Astronomy 102.

● Your (reasonably friendly) neighborhood

● No late course enrollments in ASTR 102:

Mastering Astronomy with Pearson eText

Corresponding bookstore website:

Textbook embedded with the Mastering Astronomy website as eText:

Stars, Planets, Moons,

A visible-light photograph of the Sun’s surface. The dark splotches are

• A moderately large object that orbits a star; it shines by

• An object that orbits a planet

Ganymede (orbits Jupiter)

(Other names for the

M31, the great galaxy

It will collide with

Destination Light travel time

Question: When will we

No, we cannot see the entire universe, because the universe

• Gravity drives collapse

• Gravity drives collapse of clouds

• Stars go through "life cycles"

• Born when gravity compresses

• Dying after no more fuel is left for

• In the beginning there were only

• All the heavier elements like carbon,

• Elements heavier than iron were

• Gravity drives collapse

• Gravity drives collapse of clouds

• Stars go through "life cycles"

• Dying after no more fuel is left for

• In the beginning there were only

The Earth rotates

It rotates in the same direction it orbits, counterclockwise as viewed

… and our sun orbits

We move at a speed of about

Include Sun’s motion around

Pictures courtesy of COBE/NASA

Conclusion: We live in an expanding universe.

• Tracking the seasons

Diameter 30 cm, mass 2.2 kg.

It was observed in 1054

• Greeks were the first

Greek geocentric model (c. 400 B.C.)

Calculate circumference of Earth:

• Earth at the center of the universe

Plato (~424-348 BC)

Aristotle (~384-322 BC)

Review: Over a period of 10 weeks, Mars appears to stop,

• Proposed a Sun-centered model

“If I had believed that we could

An ellipse looks like an elongated circle.

Kepler’s First Law: (1609)

1. Earth could not be moving

Galileo’s experiments showed that objects in air would stay

• Brahe’s observations of a comet

• Tycho thought he had measured stellar distances, so lack

– His experiments and observations overcame the

Sir Isaac Newton

• It is a form of currency of Nature: Whenever you want to

• Units: Joule (J), electron Volt (eV),

• Heating energy in gas supplied to over 400,000 customers by

• Peak daily flow of heating energy through gas supplied by SaskEnergy:

• Estimated energy in global arsenal of nuclear warheads: Maybe (?)

• Energy of impact of asteroid with a diameter of about 10 km (density

• White light is made up of many different colors.