Astronomy ›  Unit 5

Unit 5 Galaxies & Cosmology

The Milky Way, galaxies beyond it, redshift, dark matter, and the Big Bang — reading what the whole universe is doing from the light it sends us. Ends with The Galaxy That Doesn't Add Up.

🕐 ~2 weeks🅰️ 4 Activities🅿️ 2 Projects🅱️ 1 Problem
Astronomy Home

The Path Through Unit 5

A radio observatory just released two datasets on a distant galaxy — and one of them doesn't match what visible matter should produce. Read the full case →
AActivity4 days total
5-1-1Mapping the Milky Way — Arms, Halo, and Nucleus
2 days→
5-1-2The Hubble Tuning Fork — Classifying Galaxies by Shape
2 days→
PProject🕐 3 class days

5-1-3  Galaxy Field Guide

Build a field guide identifying and classifying a set of real galaxy images by shape — the same skill professional surveys use to sort thousands of galaxies at once.

Turn in: Galaxy field guide with classified imagesOpen →
AActivity4 days total
5-2-1Redshift and Hubble's Law — Measuring Cosmic Expansion
2 days→
5-2-2Dark Matter and Dark Energy — Reading the Evidence
2 days→
PProject🕐 3 class days

5-2-3  Timeline of Everything

Build a visual timeline or infographic of the universe's history, Big Bang to today — compressing 13.8 billion years into something that actually fits on a page.

Turn in: Visual timeline or infographic of cosmic historyOpen →
BProblem🕐 3 class days

5-3-1  The Galaxy That Doesn't Add Up

You're given a galaxy's redshift data and its rotation curve. Calculate its distance and recession velocity — then explain why its outer stars are moving faster than visible matter alone can account for.

Turn in: Analysis report: distance/velocity calculation + dark matter argumentOpen →