Laura Soto's Quiz

Laura Soto
Tuesday April 23, 2013
Quiz

What is a black hole?
-An object that has a gravitational field that light cannot escape.
What would it be like to visit a black hole?
-You can orbit a black hole like any other object of the same mass-black holes don’t suck! Near the event
horizon time slows down and tidal forces are very strong.
Do black holes really exist?
-Yes
What causes gamma ray bursts?
-A collapsing star.
What is in the center of the Milky Way?
-A large black hole.
What is the mass of the object in the center of our galaxy?
-4 million solar masses.
Who was John Michell?
-An English geologist and philosopher.
Who was Pierre-Simon Laplace?
-A French mathematician and astronomer
Who was Karl Schwarzschild?
-A German physicist
What is the Schwarzschild radius of Earth?
-8.869 mm

Thursday, April 25, 2013
Quiz

What does our galaxy look like?
-Our galaxy consists of a disk of stars and gas, with a bulge of stars at the center of the disk, surrounded
by a large spherical halo.
How do stars orbit in our galaxy?
-Stars in the disk orbit in circles going in the same direction with a little up and down motion.
How is gas recycled in our galaxy?
-Gas from dying stars mixes new elements into the interstellar medium, which slowly cools, making the
molecular clouds where stars come from.
Where do stars tend to form in our galaxy?
-Active star-forming regions contain molecular clouds, hot stars, and ionization mubulae.
Who is Andrea M. Ghez?
-Andrea Mia Ghez (born June 16, 1965) is an American astronomer and professor in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy at UCLA.
What is the name of our galaxy?
-The Milky Way
What is the ratio between the diameter and the thickness of the galactic disc?
-the diameter is about 100 times as great as the thickness.
Is our galaxy rotating?
-Yes

Can our galaxy be seen at night far from cities?
-No, there is too much light around.
Why do we need satellites to detect gamma rays from our galaxy?
-Because they have a short wavelength and lots of energy.