Ast 1001

R.M. Humphreys

Review Sheet for Final Exam

I. The Milky Way as a Galaxy

Appearance of Milky Way

Variable Stars – Cepheids, period-luminosity relation

Size, structure, and morphological type

Rotation and mass

The galactic nucleus

II. Normal Galaxies

Historical – the nature of the nebulae

Types of galaxies and their properties

Extragalactic distance scale

Distance – redshift relation

Galaxy clustering and large scale structure

Missing mass problem and dark matter

III. Active Galaxies

Peculiar Galaxies – evidence for mergers and disturbances in nucleus

Radio Galaxies

Quasars

IV. Cosmology and the Big Bang

Observational evidence

The standard Big Bang model

3 ˚K cosmic microwave background radiation

Four fundamental forces

Open or closed?

Critical Density

Acceleration and dark energy

V. Life in the Universe

Astronomical conditions

IS travel vs. IS communication