Year 08 Galaxies

SIMPLIFIED YEAR 08 CHECKPOINT SCIENCE 0893 (PHYSICS) NOTES 2023 - EDITION 1
(Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint Science)
GALAXIES
The word ‘galaxy’ comes from the Greek word for ‘milky’.
Question: What is a galaxy?
 A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust and dark matter,
bound together by gravity. (Tr. Joshua S)
THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

 If you look at the sky on a clear night, far away from any lights, you can see a milky band across the
sky. This milky band is part of the galaxy where we live called the milky Way
 Part of our own milky way galaxy taken with a camera set for very low light conditions
Part of our Milky Way galaxy

Question: What is the Milky Way galaxy?
 Milky Way Galaxy is a large spiral system consisting of several hundred billion stars, one of which is
the Sun. Note that the Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy.
 It takes its name from the Milky Way, the irregular luminous band of stars and gas clouds that
stretches across the sky as seen from Earth.
SHAPES OF GALAXIES
The reason why our own galaxy looks like a band across the sky is because of the shape of the
galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy.
If you were to look at the Milky Way from far away, it would appear as a spiral
Illustration
This is what the Milky Way galaxy would look like from far away
SIMPLIFIED YEAR 08 CHECKPOINT SCIENCE 0893 (PHYSICS) NOTES 2023 - EDITION BY SAKAJJA JOSHUA SOKUTON
(DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS NU – VISION HIGH SCHOOL)
 Because we live in a spiral galaxy, we can only see one ‘arm’ of the spiral which is the band across
the sky. In fact, most of the stars we see at night including our sun are in our own galaxy (the Milky
Way).
Question: How many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy?

Answer
 There are an estimated 250 000 000 stars in the Milky Way, including our sun.
TYPES OF GALAXIES
In the universe, there are four main types of galaxies which are classified according to shape.
1. Spiral galaxy
2. Elliptical galaxy
3. Irregular galaxy
4. Peculiar galaxy
Note: The closest known galaxy to the milky way is called the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy. It is elliptical
in shape and a distance of 24000 million kilometres (km) away from us.
SPIRAL GALAXY
 It is a galaxy in which the stars and gas clouds are concentrated mainly in one or more spiral arms.
How the spiral galaxy looks like
An example of a spiral galaxy is tour galaxy the Milky Way.

ELLIPTICAL GALAXY
 An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly
featureless image. Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is an example of an elliptical galaxy.
How the elliptical galaxy looks like
IRREGULAR GALAXY
 An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an
elliptical galaxy. ...
 Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they
are often chaotic in appearance, with neither a nuclear bulge nor any trace of spiral
arm structure.
 Collectively they are thought to make up about a quarter of all galaxies. Some irregular
galaxies were once spiral or elliptical galaxies but were deformed by an uneven external
gravitational force. Irregular galaxies may contain abundant amounts of gas and dust.[3] This is
not necessarily true for dwarf irregulars
How an irregular galaxy looks like
 Irregular galaxies are commonly small, about one tenth the mass of the Milky Way galaxy.
Due to their small sizes, they are prone to environmental effects like crashing with large
galaxies and intergalactic clouds.
PECULIAR GALAXY
 A peculiar galaxy is a galaxy of unusual size, shape, or composition.
How a peculiar galaxy looks like
 Between five and ten percent of known galaxies are categorized as peculiar.
COMPOSITION OF GALAXIES
Question: What are Galaxies made of?
Answer
 Galaxies are made of stellar dust, gas, stars and solar systems held together by gravity. Stellar
dust is the dust found in space.
The Earth is travelling through a cloud of stellar dust that is estimated to contain one dust particle in
every one million m3 of space!
The gravity holding the galaxy together is strong because galaxies have very large mass. Even if
you could travel at the speed of light (300 000 000m/s = 300 000km/s) it would take you more than
100 000 years to cross from one side of the Milky Way to the other!
Scientists estimate the mass of the Milky Way to be 1 500 000 000 000 times the mass of the sun.
Question: How many galaxies are there in the Universe?

Answer
 The reasonable estimate for the number of galaxies in the Universe is 100 000 000 000 galaxies.
Explanation
 Scientists first counted the galaxies in one part of space. They then multiplied this number up to
estimate the number of galaxies in the universe and the answer they got is 100 000 000 000
galaxies.
 Note that estimates such as this may not be accurate. There could be more or fewer galaxies in part pf
the space that scientists counted compared with the rest of the universe. Also, scientists may no know
the total volume of the Universe accurately.
PROGRESS CHECK QUESTIONS

1. List any three different shapes of galaxies
2. Which of these are found in galaxies. Choose all that are correct from the list.
Planet star Universe stellar gas
3. Name the force that holds the parts of the galaxy together
4. Explain why most of the stars we see in the night sky are from our own galaxy and not from other
galaxies
5. Suggest why scientists can only estimate the number of stars in the Milky Way and not know the
number accurately.
ROCKS IN SPACE
ASTEROIDS
Question: What is an asteroid?
 An asteroid is a small rock in space also called a minor planet that orbits the sun
 They are objects made from rocks that orbit the sun and are also called minor planets.
 Asteroids range in size up to 975km across. The smallest asteroid that has been studied is 2m across.
 Most asteroids are not regular in shape, just as rocks on Earth are not regular shapes. Scientists
describe the shape of most asteroids as being similar to potatoes.
 Most asteroids in the solar system orbit the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This part of the
solar system is called the asteroid belt.
THE ASTEROID BELT
 Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt.
 Asteroids are pieces of planets or moons, or lumps of rock left over from when the Solar System
was formed.
Diagram of the the solar system showing the asteroid belt
 There are millions of asteroids in the asteroid belt, and they orbit the Sun like the planets do. The
largest asteroid, Ceres, is also a dwarf planet. It is one-third the size of the Moon
THE LARGEST ASTEROID
 There are millions of asteroids, some have been studied and have been given names.
 The largest asteroid called Ceres and was discovered in the year 1801. When Ceres was discovered,
scientists thought it was a new planet. As Ceres looked much smaller than a planet, the term asteroid
was introduced.

A photograph of Ceres taken by a space craft in 2015
 Ceres looks like a small planet. It is round, with a diameter of 975km, and covered with craters.
 Ceres has a core, a mantle and a crust like some planets
 Scientists think that Ceres would have become a planet if it had continued to grow during the formation
of the Solar System.
THE SMALLEST ASTEROIDS

 The asteroid Itokawa is one of the smallest asteroids to be visited by a space craft.
 Asteroid Itokawa is about 530m long and about 250m wide. In the year 2005, a spacecraft collected
samples from the surface of Itokawa. Study of the samples has given scientists more evidence about
how the solar system was formed.
 Itokawa appears to be made from lumps of rock. These lumps of rock appear to have come from other
small planets or moons which have been broken by impacts. The force of gravity holding the lumps of
rock together is weak because the asteroid is a relatively small object.
 When an asteroid such as Itokawa passes a large object such as a planet, tidal forces can change the
shape of the asteroid.
 Some asteroids are made from a single piece of rock. Scientists know this because these asteroids are
small and spin quickly. The force of gravity in these asteroids would be too weak to hold separate pieces
of rock together.
ASTEROIDS AND EARTH

Scientists think that a large asteroid impacts the Earth on average every 130 000 years.
Smaller asteroids impact the Earth very frequently.
This map shows where asteroids impacted Earth between the years 1994 and 2013
There are two reasons why asteroids impact with Earth.

1. The Earth exerts a strong force of gravity on passing objects such as asteroids
2. Many steroids have orbits that pass relatively close to the Earth.
PROGRESS CHECK QUESTIONS

1. Describe what is meant by the term an ‘asteroid’.
2. Some asteroids have diameters between 300 and 500m. Explain why these asteroids are classed as
small objects in the Solar System.
3. The asteroid Ceres is covered with craters. Suggest how these craters were formed.
4. Describe where the rocks came from to form asteroids
SAMPLE PAPER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. The picture shows an asteroid.
Asteroids are found in space.
(a) (i) What is an asteroid? [1]

Answer
 An asteroid is a small rock in space also called a minor planet that orbits the sun
(ii) Suggest how craters are made on asteroids. [1]
Answer
 Craters are formed because of collisions with other asteroids or dust or objects.
(b) Pierre writes down some information about four asteroids.
He draws a table to show the information more clearly.
(i) Present his information on orbit time and radius for each asteroid in the table.
[3]
Answer
(ii) All four asteroids travel the same distance in one year.
Which asteroid travels at the greatest mean speed? [1]
Answer
 Vesta
2. Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid collided with Earth creating a large crater.
(a) Describe two other effects of this asteroid colliding with the Earth. [2]
Answer(any two from)
 Mass extinction (of dinosaurs/animals)

 climate change or long-term cooling of the Earth’s temperature
 tsunami
 Wildfires
(b) Oliver and Pierre investigate the effect of the size of asteroids on the diameter of craters formed.
Oliver and Pierre:
 measure the diameter of a ball

 drop the ball into 5 cm depth of flour from a height of 1 m
 measure the diameter of the crater formed
 repeat the experiment four times.
Oliver and Pierre test four different sizes of ball.
Here are their results.
Oliver and Pierre are discussing their results.

They think their results are reliable.
Write down two reasons why they are correct. [2]
Answer (any two from)
 All their results for each  The mean for each ball is  There are no anomalous
ball are similar similar to their results results
3. The Milky Way contains a large number of stars and other matter.
The diagram shows what the Milky Way looks like from outer space.
(a) What name is given to a large number of stars such as the Milky Way? [1]
Answer
 Galaxy
(b) The Milky Way contains stars and planets.
Name one other type of matter found in the Milky Way. [1]
Answer
 Stellar dust / gas

(c) The Sun is a star in the Milky Way.
What name is given to the Sun and its orbiting planets?
Answer
 Solar system
4. Blessy collects some information about gravity on different planets in the Solar System.
(a) What is gravity? [2]
Answer
 Gravity is a force that pulls objects towards each other or pulls objects towards the centre of the
planet
(b) Look at the information Blessy collects.
(i) Write down the name of the planet that has the greatest gravity. [1]
Answer
 Jupiter
(ii) Write down a conclusion about the relationship between mass of planet and gravity. Include
information from the table in your answer. [2]
Answer
 As the mass of most planets increases so does gravity e.g. Jupiter has the biggest mass and the
most gravity or
 As the mass of most planets increases so does gravity except for Uranus e.g. Uranus has more
mass than Earth but has less gravity
5. Read the information about the Solar System.
Use the information to help you to answer the questions.

(a) Suggest why astronomers did not discover the asteroid belt until the early 1800s. [1]
Answer
 This is because asteroids are too small to be seen /too dim to be seen
 They are too far away to be seen and cannot be seen without the aid of powerful telescope
(b) Circle the name of the scientist who discovered the first asteroid. [1]
Galle Herschel Lippershey Piazzi
Answer
 Piazzi
(c) (i) What are asteroids made of? [1]
Answer
 Asteroids are made of rocks (also metals e.g., nickel and iron)
(ii) Why are asteroids not classified as planets? [1]
Answer
 This is because asteroids are too small and are not spherical in shape.
(d) Modern telescopes have a much larger magnification than the first telescopes.
Suggest two ways modern telescopes help to improve our knowledge of asteroids and the asteroid
belt. [2]
Answer(Any two from)
 Modern telescopes can show more detail

 They can see even the smallest asteroids
 Modern telescopes can see more asteroids
 Modern telescopes can see the asteroids that are further away

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SIMPLIFIED YEAR 08 CHECKPOINT SCIENCE 0893 (PHYSICS) NOTES 2023 - EDITION 1

(Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint Science)

THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

Part of our Milky Way galaxy

Question: How many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy?

How the spiral galaxy looks like

An example of a spiral galaxy is tour galaxy the Milky Way.

How the elliptical galaxy looks like

Question: How many galaxies are there in the Universe?

PROGRESS CHECK QUESTIONS

THE SMALLEST ASTEROIDS

ASTEROIDS AND EARTH

There are two reasons why asteroids impact with Earth.

PROGRESS CHECK QUESTIONS

(a) (i) What is an asteroid? [1]

He draws a table to show the information more clearly.

 Mass extinction (of dinosaurs/animals)

 measure the diameter of a ball

Oliver and Pierre are discussing their results.

 Stellar dust / gas

Use the information to help you to answer the questions.

 Modern telescopes can show more detail

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