Science HW-Milky Way

I have attached the document.

Su10
Name: ________________________________

Lab Report for Lab #7: What is the Milky Way Made of?

Description:

Galaxies, like the Milky Way, are made of stars, gas and dust. These constituents combine together in different ways to make HII regions, planetary nebulae, reflection nebulae, supernova remnants and dark nebulae. These objects have distinct, measurable properties that make them distinguishable. Sometimes these properties are related to the physical phenomena that cause their appearances; sometimes the names are simply misleading. One important aspect of science is the ability to correctly classify objects. The first step towards being able to understand what an object is, is to group it together with other, similar objects so that one can learn as much as possible about the physical phenomenon that causes the appearance of the object.

In this exercise, students will use the World Wide Telescope to identify the type of object they are observing and list the object’s intrinsic properties. Then, students will be asked to determine which physical phenomena are causing the appearance of each type of object, based on the information they find.

Introduction:

Each of the objects you will observe fits into one of the following categories: HII region, planetary nebula, reflection nebula, supernova remnant or dark nebula. You will be able to identify which type of object you are looking at by clicking on the “research” button when you find the object on the World Wide Telescope. You will also need to find out information about what color the object appears to be and what type of stars (if any) are associated with the object.

Each of the objects you will observe appears the way it does for one of the reasons listed below. Your task is to identify what type of object you are observing and match up the type of object with the description of the physical phenomenon that causes its appearance.

· Some objects are blue because the blue light from the young, yellow and blue stars is being reflected from the dust behind them, making them look like they have a blue gas surrounding them.

· Some objects are red because the hydrogen gas, which was once part of a red giant, is cooling and expanding from the hot white dwarf core.

· Some objects appear to be blocking light from a stellar source behind it from our point of view. When looking at these objects in the infrared, sometimes the stars behind the object are visible as faint, red light sources.

· Some objects appear blue, red and green because the hot gases, which used to be part of a massive star, are expanding at extremely high speeds out into space. The wispy, colorful gases are not associated with any stars, yet emit light and appear bright.

· Some objects are red because the hydrogen gas surrounding the new, young, hot, blue stars are exciting the hydrogen gas, causing it to emit red light.

List of Objects:

· M45

· M43

· IC 434

· M57

· M1

1. Match the above descriptions with the object types they describe. The object types are listed below.

H-II region – [Type answer here]

Planetary nebula – [Type answer here]

Reflection nebula – [Type answer here]

Supernova remnant – [Type answer here]

Dark nebula – [Type answer here]

2

. Find one of the above objects using the World Wide Telescope. When you have found the object, use the “finder scope” feature to determine the classification of the object. This should match up with one of the five possible types of objects listed above. You may have to move the finder scope around on the image to make sure you have the correct identification.

[Type answer here]

3. Match the object you found to one of the descriptions in the Introduction. You may need to use the “research” feature to find out information about the object, but you will probably be able to look at the image displayed on the WWT and be able to match the description with the object. Write down what you found out about the object that made you match it to the description you chose.

[Type answers here]

Step 4. Find out more about this class of object. Use the internet or your textbook to find out more about this type of object. Use the research feature on WWT to look up information on this object using one of the astronomical websites (NED, SIMBAD, or SEDS). You may find other images of the object or other information that you may determine to be relevant. Include references for all information you find.

Step 5. Repeat this procedure for the rest of the objects on the list.

[Type answers here]

OPTIONAL Step 6. Write a paper describing the procedure you used to classify objects and what you learned about how the names of some objects reveal their physical nature, while others are misleading. Include “printouts” of the images you used in your classification. Make sure to you include references for these images as well as for any other information you used to classify these objects.

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