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History of Astronomy - Assignment Example

Summary

The author focuses on the history of astronomy which refers to the study of objects far away from the world. Among the sciences, astronomy is the oldest of all having begun thousands of years in the past. The ancient cultures had believed which locked them from advancing in astronomy. …

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Subject: Astronomy
Type: Assignment
Level: High School
Pages: 1 (250 words)
Downloads: 3
Author: farmstrong

Extract of sample "History of Astronomy"

Among the Egyptians who were polytheistic there, astronomy did not become anybody’s concern. People just left the subject of the cosmos because they thought the universe was under the control of the gods. The Jews were the only people worshipping one God and made a predictable universe. The coming of the bible, which was associated with the Jews, made a great impact on science. According to many, Greeks were the first people to know much of their surroundings before other cultures. It is the work of the Romans spreading the Greek philosophy, which made Greek work known by many.

Hubble came up with a constant he named Hubble's constant which is given by H = v/d, where v stands for radial outward velocity and d is the distance of the galaxy from the earth. Exercise #4 1. Speed of recession of galaxies Galaxy Speed of recession, V (km/s) NGC 5746 1700 NGC 4976 1000 NGC 1023 800 NGC 5283 26000 NGC 2403 490 2. A graph of speed against distance a. Taking the hubble constant as 50Km/sec/Mpc Speed (km/s) Distance (km) 1700 1100 1000 700 800 350 26000 3250 490 250 Scale y-axis 1 cm represents 5000km/s and for x-axis 1 cm represents 500 km b.

the line of best fit does not pass through all the points because the velocity of recession does not increase uniformly. 3. Hubbles constant = change in velocity/change in distance Taking the origin and point (750,5000), the constant equals to 5000-0/500-0 5000/750 = 6.67 4. Two quasars Redshift 0.5= 140000 km/s Redshift 0.6 = 150000 km/s 5. Quasar 0.5 redshift=1700Mpc Quasar 0.6 redshift = 1800Mpc 6. Distances 0.5redshift quasar is 1700×3.26×1000 =5542000 light years 0.6 redshift quasar is 1888×3.

26×1000 =5868000 light years 7. Using the lower limit V= D×H, v=300000000m/s or 300000km/s Thus 300000km/s= D × 50Km/s/Mpc D=6000Mpc, 6000×3.26= 19560×1000= 19560000 light years Using the upper limit of H 300000km/s= D × 100km/s/Mpc D = 3000Mpc, 3000 × 3.26×1000= 9780000 light years

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