A)Determine the mass of the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy

Question

A)Determine the mass of the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Give your answer in kilograms. A)Determine the mass of the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Give your answer in kilograms. B)Give your answer in solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of the sun). B)Give your answer in solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of the sun). C)Observations of stars, as well as theories of the structure of stars, suggest that it is impossible for a single star to have a mass of more than about 50 solar masses. Can this massive object be a single, ordinary star? C)Observations of stars, as well as theories of the structure of stars, suggest that it is impossible for a single star to have a mass of more than about 50 solar masses. Can this massive object be a single, ordinary star? D)Many astronomers believe that the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is a black hole. If so, what must the Schwarzschild radius of this black hole be? D)Many astronomers believe that the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is a black hole. If so, what must the Schwarzschild radius of this black hole be? E)Would a black hole of this size fit inside the earth's orbit around the sun? E)Would a black hole of this size fit inside the earth's orbit around the sun?

Explanation / Answer

v²/r = GM/r² M = v²r/G = (200000m/s)² • (7.5•9.461e15m) / 6.674e-11 N·m²/kg² M = 4.25e37 kg The Drake equation states that: where: N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible; and R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets fl = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.[3] [edit]R factor One can question why the number of civilizations should be proportional to the star formation rate, though this makes technical sense. (The product of all the terms except L tells how many new communicating civilizations are born each year. Then you multiply by the lifetime to get the expected number. For example, if an average of 0.01 new civilizations are born each year, and they each last 500 years on the average, then on the average 5 will exist at any time.) The original Drake Equation can be extended to a more realistic model, where the equation uses not the number of stars that are forming now, but those that were forming several billion years ago. The alternate formulation, in terms of the number of stars in the galaxy, is easier to explain and understand, but implicitly assumes the star formation rate is constant over the life of the galaxy.

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