AY 101 - Extra Credit Assignment #2, Spring 2008

                          (up to 10 points)

Write a brief essay (5 pages typed, typically) in which you speculate on how 
any one of the following changes would impact the Universe and our
interaction with it (remembering that there are many connections with 
such fields as physics and geography). There are obviously no right answers - 
I am most interested in how well thought-out your scenario is, and how cogently 
you argue for it based on astronomical principles. Clarity of thought and 
expression are important; literary quality is secondary. These must be turned 
in by Wednesday, April 23.


1. If we had somehow found ourselves living in an elliptical galaxy,
how might our understanding of stars and their formation be different?


2. Invent a sequence of events surrounding the discovery of
a black hole surprisingly near to our solar system and attempts to
explore its vicinity.


3. How might a human culture be different if we lived inside
a dense interstellar cloud, rather than the fairly clear region where
the Sun is in fact located?


4. What impact might it have on Earth if we were to find
evidence of a very advanced civilization elsewhere in the Galaxy,
which showed no interest at all in communicating with or visitng us?


5. How might conditions on Earth differ if the center of the
Milky Way hosted a quasar?



A few hints to improve your score:

-- Don't waste a page restating the question. I know what the question was.

-- Please answer the question you picked, not some other question!

-- And if in doubt, check the rules on plagiarism. This is supposed
to represent your own thought unless you specifically state that
something is otherwise.