Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Comparing Dust In Other Galaxies To Dust In Our Galaxy, Fatima Elkhatib

Senior Theses

Interstellar dust in galaxies has a profound effect on the galaxies’ light output and apparent properties as well as on the physical processes connected to star formation. Therefore, to understand the true properties of the galaxies around us, it is important to understand the dust in those galaxies and compare it to the dust in our galaxy. To do this, we study the effects of dust on background quasars by analyzing interstellar reddening and extinction. It has been shown that many quasars look redder and dimmer than the average quasar when observing them from Earth, due to the dust in …