OBJECTIVES

A. Describe the structure and composition of

the Universe;
B. Explain the red-shift and how it used as
proof of an expanding universe
C. State the different hypothesis that
preceded the Big Bang Theory of the Origin
of the Universe
D. Explain the Big Bang Theory
Important terms that will be encountered.
A. Baryonic matter - "ordinary" matter consisting of
protons, electrons, and neutrons that comprises
atoms, planets, stars, galaxies, and other bodies
B. Dark matter - matter that has gravity but does not
emit light.
C. Dark Energy - a source of anti-gravity; a force that
counteracts gravity and causes the universe to expand.
D. Protostar - an early stage in the formation of a star
resulting from the gravitational collapse of gases.
E. Thermonuclear reaction - a nuclear fusion
reaction responsible for the energy produced by
stars.
F. Main Sequence Stars - stars that fuse hydrogen
atoms to form helium atoms in their cores; outward
pressure resulting from nuclear fusion is balanced by
gravitational forces
G. Light years - the distance light can travel in a year;
a unit of length used to measure astronomical
distance
 Structure, Composition, and Age
• The universe as we currently know it comprises all space and
time, and all matter and energy in it.
• It is made of 4.6% baryonic matter (“ordinary” matter consisting
of protons, electrons, and neutrons: atoms, planets, stars, galaxies,
nebulae, and other bodies), 24% cold dark matter (matter that has
gravity but does not emit light), and 71.4% dark energy (a source of
anti-gravity)
• Dark matter can explain what may be holding galaxies together
for the reason that the low total mass is insufficient for gravity
alone to do so while dark energy can explain the observed
accelerating expansion of the universe.
• Hydrogen, helium, and lithium are the three most abundant
elements
• Stars - the building block of galaxies-are born out of clouds of
gas and dust in galaxies. Instabilities within the clouds eventually
results into gravitational collapse, rotation, heating up, and
transformation into a protostar-the hot core of a future star as
thermonuclear reactions set in.
• Stellar interiors are like furnaces where elements are
synthesized or combined/fused together. Most stars such as the
Sun belong to the so-called “main sequence stars.” In the cores
of such stars, hydrogen atoms are fused through thermonuclear
reactions to make helium atoms. Massive main sequence stars
burn up their hydrogen faster than smaller stars. Stars like our
Sun burn up hydrogen in about 10 billion years.
 Birth, evolution, death, and rebirth of stars
• The remaining dust and gas may end up as they are or as planets,
asteroids, or other bodies in the accompanying planetary system.
• A galaxy is a cluster of billions of stars and clusters of galaxies form
superclusters. In between the clusters is practically an empty space. This
organization of matter in the universe suggests that it is indeed clumpy
at a certain scale. But at a large scale, it appears homogeneous and
isotropic .
• Based on recent data, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. The
diameter of the universe is possibly infinite but should be at least 91
billion light-years (1 light-year = 9.4607 × 10 km). Its density is 4.5 x 10
12 -31

g/cm .
3
 Non-scientific Thought
• Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and myths which narrate
that the world arose from an infinite sea at the first rising of the sun.
• The Kuba people of Central Africa tell the story of a creator god
Mbombo (or Bumba) who, alone in a dark and water-covered Earth,
felt an intense stomach pain and then vomited the stars, sun, and
moon.
• In India, there is the narrative that gods sacrificed Purusha, the
primal man whose head, feet, eyes, and mind became the sky, earth,
sun, and moon respectively.
• The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim
that a supreme being created the universe, including man and other
living organisms.
Steady State Model
• The now discredited steady state model of the
universe was proposed in 1948 by Bondi and Gould
and by Hoyle.
• It maintains that new matter is created as the
universe expands thereby maintaining its density.
• Its predictions led to tests and its eventual rejection
with the discovery of the cosmic microwave
background.
Big Bang Theory states: the universe began from
an initial point (or singularity) which has expanded
over billions of years to form the universe as we
now know it today.

The “bang” should not be taken as an

explosion; it is better thought of a
simultaneous appearance of space
everywhere. The theory does not
identify the cause of the “bang.”
 Formation of the Universe
Big Bang Theory: According to BBT, UNIVERSE is
13.7 Billion years old
Our Solar System
 OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the large scale and small scale
properties of the Solar System;
2. Discuss the different hypotheses explaining
the origin of the solar system;
3. Become familiar with the most recent
advancements/information on the solar
system.
Galaxies
• Our sun is 1 of trillions of stars in the universe. Stars are found in groups held together by gravity.
• A huge group of stars is called a galaxy.
• Our entire universe is made up of thousands of galaxies.
• The images below show you how small we are compared to the entire universe.

UNIVERSE GALAXY SOLAR SYSTEM

The entire universe is made A huge group of stars held A system of planets & stars that
of thousands of galaxies together by gravity. are found throughout galaxies
 The Milky Way
• Our Solar System is part of the “Milky Way” galaxy.
 The Inner Planets Solar System
A. The solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy a huge
(Terrestrial
disc- Planets)
and spiral-shaped
aggregation of about at least 100 billion stars and other bodies;
B. Its spiral arms rotate around a globular cluster or bulge of
many, many stars, at the center of
which lies a supermassive blackhole;
C. This galaxy is about 100 million light years across (1 light year
= 9.4607 × 1012 km;
D. The solar system revolves around the galactic center once in
about 240 million years;
 The Inner Planets Solar System
E. The Milky Way is part of the so-called Local Group of
(Terrestrial
galaxies, whichPlanets)
in turn is part of the Virgo supercluster of
galaxies;
F. Based on the assumption that they are remnants of
the materials from which they were
formed, radioactive dating of meteorites, suggests that
the Earth and solar system are 4.6
billion years old. on the assumption that they are
remnants of the materials from which they were formed.
◆Nebular Theory:
SOLAR SYSTEM
formed from huge,
rotating cloud disk
of dust and gases
In the 1700s Emanuel
Swedenborg, Immanuel
Kant, and Pierre-Simon
Laplace independently
thought of a rotating
gaseous cloud that cools
and contracts in the middle
to form the sun and the rest
into a disc that become the
planets. This nebular theory
failed to account for the
distribution of angular
momentum in the solar
system.
5. The most widely accepted model of the formation of the
solar system is the nebular model where the solar system
condensed out of a nebula – a huge cloud of interstellar
gas and dust
i. Planets may have formed out of material orbiting the
early sun through the process of accretion where small
particles collide and stick together to form larger masses

ii. Gaseous clouds—nebulae, which slowly rotate,

gradually collapse and flatten due to gravity and
eventually form stars and planets.

Our solar system is approximately

4.6 billion years old.
23
Sun - Star interaction
Nobel Prize winner Harold Urey’s compositional studies on
meteorites in the 1950s and other scientists’ work on these objects
led to the conclusion that meteorite constituents have changed very
little since the solar system’s early history and can give clues about
their formation. The currently accepted theory on the origin of the
solar system relies much on information from meteorites.
Protoplanet Hypothesis - Current Hypothesis
A. About 4.6 billion years ago, in the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy, a slowly-rotating
gas and dust cloud dominated by hydrogen and helium starts to contract due to gravity
B. As most of the mass move to the center to eventually become a proto-Sun, the remaining
materials form a disc that will eventually become the planets and momentum is transferred
outwards.
C. Due to collisions, fragments of dust and solid matter begin sticking to each other to form
larger and larger bodies from meter to kilometer in size. These proto-planets are accretions
of frozen water, ammonia, methane, silicon, aluminum, iron, and other metals in rock and
mineral grains enveloped in hydrogen and helium.
 What is the difference between the Solar
System, Galaxy, and Universe?
• Basically SIZE is the biggest distinction.
• We live on planet Earth which is part of our local Solar
System.
• Our Solar System includes the Sun and everything that
orbits the Sun.
• Our Sun, is just one Star in the Milky Way Galaxy.
• The Milky Way Galaxy is just one Galaxy in the Universe.
KEPLER
•HELIOCENTRIC MODEL
•3 LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION
 Terrestrial Planets
• Inner 4 Planets:
–Mercury
–Venus
–Earth
–Mars

–Small, solid,
rocky surfaces
Mercury
• On Mercury you weigh only 38% of
what you weigh on Earth.
• Fastest orbiting planet
• Planet nearest to the sun
• One side of the planet can be 800
degrees Fahrenheit when the other can
be -280 degree Fahrenheit at the same
time.
Venus
• On Venus you weigh only 91% of what you weigh
on Earth.
• Venus has 90 times the pressure of Earth
• Venus has volcanoes like Earth
• Rotates in the opposite direction of Earth.
• One time there were oceans before they boiled
away.
Earth
• 23 hours and 56 min=1 Earth day (rotation)
• 365 days =1 Earth year (revolution)
• Earth is warm enough to keep most of its water
from freezing and cold enough to keep it’s water
from boiling
• Temperature is between –13 degrees Celsius and
37 degrees Celsius
Mars
• Air Pressure on Mars is the same as 30 km above
the Earth’s surface
• Mars is in the form of ice.
• Evidence that water was there at one time
• Volcanic history like Earth.
• It has the tallest mount of the planets (Olympus
Mons) 3x’s size of Mt. Everest.
 Jovian Planets
• Outer 4 Planets:
–Jupiter
–Saturn
–Uranus
–Neptune

– Larger, gaseous,
and lacks solid
surfaces
 Jupiter
• Largest planet in the Solar
System
• Has a Great Red Spot from a
storm system that is more than
400 years old (It is larger than
Earth!)
• 9 hours and 54 min=1 Jupiter day
(shortest day)
• Pressure is so great it would
crush a spaceship.
Saturn
• 2nd Largest planet in the Solar
System
• 95 times more massive than
earth.
• Saturn has the largest rings of
any planet, the rings are made
of icy particles.
• Most moons of any planet.
Uranus

• Discovered in 1781
• Uranus appears blue-green in color
• It’s axis of rotation is tilted 90 degrees
• Moons are named after Shakespearean
plays and formed from other broken
moons.
 Neptune

• Discovered in 1846
• Neptune has visual belts of
clouds
• Interior releases thermal
energy to its outer layers.
• Use to be the 8th planet after
Pluto until 1999.
Spinning Planets
• Period of Rotation: amount of time that an object takes to rotate
once. (1 Day)

• Period of Revolution: time it takes an object to revolve around the

sun once. (1 year)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Ob0xR0Ut8&feature=related
 Other Space Objects

COMETS
ASTEROIDS METEOROIDS
What is a comet?
• A comet is a small body
made out of dust, rock, gas &
ice.
• They are kind of like a dirty
snowball
• Comets come from faraway
regions of our solar system
beyond the planets
 Comets are made up of
different parts.
▪ The nucleus
▪ The coma
▪ The ion tail
▪ The dust tail
Comet Brain Pop
http://www.brainpop.com/science/space/comets/
What is an asteroid?
• Asteroids are large
pieces of space rock
with irregular shapes.
• They are also known
as planetoids or minor
planets that revolves
around our sun
• Most asteroids orbit the
Sun in the asteroid belt
located between Mars
and Jupiter. A few
asteroids approach the
Sun more closely.
• Asteroids can collide with
object such as Earth’s
moon, creating huge
craters on the surface.
METEOROIDS
METEORS &
METEORITES
• Meteoroids are pieces of rock
or dust that are smaller than
asteroids.
• Meteoroids are tiny particles
left by an asteroid or a
comet & most meteoroids
are smaller than the size of a
pebble.
• When small meteoroids enters Earth’s
atmosphere, they usually burn up &
make a fiery trail as it falls, it is then
called a meteor or a “shooting star”

• Meteors that land on Earth are called meteorites.