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Active Galaxies and Quasars - Try This!

Active Galaxies and Quasars

Try this!

As you know, our Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the Universe. Also, it is now known that all other galaxies are speeding away from us, with the speed being proportional to the distance. Knowing how far an object is away from us, and how fast it is speeding away, then you can calculate how long ago it left our neighborhood. This can be done by dividing the distance by the speed.

Look at the following data from 3 different galaxies, then calculate how long ago each galaxy moved away from us. Do not use any commas when typing in your answer!

DISTANCE
(light-years)		 SPEED
(light-years/year)
30,000,000 0.002 years
60,000,000 0.004 years
90,000,000 0.006 years

Think About!

  1. What can be said about the velocity that these galaxies are traveling?
  2. How does this confirm the idea that our universe evolved from a single point in time?

This activity was developed by Jacqueline Slay, Largo High School, Largo, MD



 

A service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Andy Ptak (Director), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/GSFC

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