This lab introduces you to the concept of the expanding universe. This phenomenon was discovered by Edwin Hubble, who observed that fainter, and presumably more distant, galaxies were receding from us at larger and larger speeds. He supposed that the recession speed was linearly depdendent on the distance, and the constant of proportionality is now called the Hubble Constant. You will carry out an analysis similar to that of Hubble, but using galaxy size (instead of brightness) to estimate the distance.

We will use the short version of the Hubble Lab exercise from the University of Washington Astronomy Clearing House. The exercise includes a worksheet which you are to fill out, as well as a prepared plotting sheet. You are free to work in pairs. If you do so, please be sure to put both your names on the worksheet and attach it to the plots.