Galaxy Formation and the Hubble Law Assigned reading: Chapter 16 REMINDER: HW7 due Monday, plus Quiz Hubbles Discovery In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble used the distance ladder (based on Cepheid variable stars) to measure the distances of about 50 nearby galaxies. This work proved that the Andromeda galaxy was not a part of the Milky Way. Hubble and his staff then measured the redshifts of the galaxies. They were shocked with what they found. Hubble's Law Hubble's Data Modern Data V = H 0 D The further a galaxy is away, the faster its moving away from us. H o = 71 km/s / Mpc. Distance to a galaxy The receding velocity causes the redshift of spectral lines, which can be used to estimate distances to distant galaxies that follow the Hubble's law: D = V/H 0. e.g., for a galaxy with V =7100 km/s, D=100 Mpc But this is only an estimate on large scales. V = H 0 D H o = 71 km/s / Mpc. Hubble Law and Big Bang The universe is expanding, as if it began in a huge explosion! A big bang! H 0 gives us an estimate of the universe's age since this explosion: t =D/V = 1/H 0 = 14 Billion years. (1 Mpc =3x10 19 km/s; 1 Billion years = 3 x s) V = H 0 D H o = 71 km/s / Mpc. Firework explosion: A center and an edge What is the big bang? Isnt this at odds with our notion that Earth isnt special? The big bang takes place everywhere! The big bang is still going on! The space and time was created with the big bang and are changing! A model universe: two dimensional It is the space that is expanding with time! As the universe expands, the local curvature of space decreases. The distances between galaxies increase. The wavelength of radiation increases and its color shifts from blue to red. There are two types of Redshift or Blueshift Doppler: motion induced Apparent wavelength changes because of motion Cosmological: induce by cosmic expansion Apparent wavelength changes because space is continuously being created between any two points and that stretches everything, including light wavelength Do you actually see this? The Milky Way You see younger galaxies! The Time Machine Looking at distant galaxies is like looking back in time This is because light departing distant sources needs time to reach us We see those sources as they were in a distant past We never see them as they are today B 435 V 606 i 775 z 850 Age = 300,000 years Does it matter which galaxy you are in? Does it depend on which direction you look? Facts weve gathered about the Universe so far in this class: It has been expanding for about 14 billion years the rate of expansion depends on the amount of matter in the Universe. Telescopes are time machines and can see back to less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang. Structure has formed over time and over a large range of scales (people to clusters of galaxies). It is made up primarily of dark matter. The Era of Atoms and Galaxies 300,000 years < t < 14 billion years Universe is no longer hot enough to keep matter ionized. The Cosmic Background is set free at the beginning of this epoch Somehow, structure formed and here we are. 4% Atoms, 23% Cold Dark Matter, 73% Dark energy. The Universe looks like its going to expand forever. Content of the Universe The Evolving Universe Cosmological SimulationsObservational Cosmology Billions of stars all tug on each other instead of just one planet tugged by the gravity of the Sun.