Astronomy 123: Third Homework Assignment


  1. Suppose that I take a spectrum of two galaxies.

    I know from laboratory measurements that the rest wavelength of this hydrogen line is 6563 angstroms. Given this data, compute the radial velocity of galaxies 1 and 2.

    Thus tutorial might help

  2. A proton and a neutron differ from each other only by a change of one of its Quark constituents:

    ( P.S. this problem is simple - you can do it much faster by referring to the material in Module 3 Lecture A than by "googling" for the answer)

  3. Give a brief explanation of why its not possible for galaxies to start forming in the Early Universe immediately after it begins to expand.

  4. For particle reactions, the conservation rules of Charge (C), Lepton number (L), and Baryon number (B), all have to hold, otherwise the reaction can't occur. Show that the reactions below following these rules (i.e. show that C, L and B are the same after the reaction as before the reaction)

    anti-neutrino+proton neutron+anti-electron

    neutrino + neutron proton + electron

  5. Explain why its not possible to make elements heavier than Helium during the period of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.

  6. Explain why, in a uniformly expanding Universe, every observer would think they are in the center of that expansion.