Podcast
Play an AI-generated podcast conversation about this lesson
Questions and Answers
Flashcards are hidden until you start studying
Study Notes
- The Milky Way galaxy is shaped like a grindstone with the Sun near the center.
- Harlow Shapley used Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars to estimate the galaxy's size and distance.
- The galaxy contains a disk component, a central bulge, and an extensive halo of dark matter.
- Spiral arms are sites of star formation and may be produced by density waves or self-sustaining star formation.
- The nucleus of the galaxy is marked by a radio source, Sagittarius A*, which likely contains a supermassive black hole.
- The disk of the galaxy is younger than the halo, which formed first.
- Stellar populations reveal that the metal abundance of more recent generations of stars has increased.
- The monolithic collapse hypothesis does not match all of the current evidence.
- The newer "bottom-up" hypothesis includes mergers with smaller galaxies and infalling gas contributing to the disk.
- The Milky Way galaxy formed about 13 billion years ago.
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
