ASTRONOMY 6590: GALAXIES AND THE UNIVERSE

Topics include: the structure and internal dynamics of galaxies, spiral structure and star formation, the evolution of stellar populations within galaxies, starburst and nuclear activity in galaxies, clusters of galaxies and their environments, superclusters and voids, the extragalactic distance scale, deviations from Hubble expansion, quasars and galaxies at high redshift.

Morphological and kinematic studies often reveal unusual evidence of past interactions and minor mergers, even in relatively normal spirals.

Above: Three-dimensional distribution of galaxies in the region of the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster (PPS). The upper panel shows the distribution on the sky, with the density enhancement identified as the filamentary ridge of the PPS outlined. The lower panel illustrates that the majority of the galaxies in the ridge indeed lie at similar redshift, emphasizing that the PPS is an elongated structure viewed nearly perpendicular to our line of sight.

Last updated on Wed Dec 24 10:01:06 EST 2008 by martha (but don't always believe this date)