From the Large-Scale Universe to The Milky Way

Briana Pearson
SCI/151
July 4,2016
Prof. Ken Watanabe

Introduction
Cosmology is the science that describes the process of universal evolution, current
state of the Universe, and its future. People were always eager to explore the unknown.
Galaxy, stars and sky were the subjects of superstitions, discussions and hypotheses since
the earliest history of humankind. Being frightened of this uncertainty, people began
creating myths to explain all the questions that did not have answers. Yet, has it changed
somehow? Though our science has experienced one of the greatest evolutions, some
weirdly simple and logical questions still have no answers.
Foundation of Modern Cosmology
Until recently, we have been asking the above questions without any hope to hear
the answers. However, we live in an extremely interesting time, thus we are able to
explore the cosmology. Moreover, NASA devotes huge resourses to extend the basic
knowledge of the outer space. Therefore, technology has finally started to catch up with
our upcoming questions. However, over the past 60 years, the situation has not crucially
changed, but we can proclaim we have started to answer some of these questions.
Unfortunately, cosmology is not the kind of science we can control or influence.
Any science we study becomes uncontrollable as we reach certain point of our research.
Cosmology is uncontrollable from the very beginning. I believe, we can only observe and
study the consequences of universal changes. Instead of I, we and forms thereof
please use one, people etc. There are plenty of options depending on the context
(individual, person etc.)

Nowadays, we aim to make models that have attributes matching those we can
observe in the universe using the laws of physics. Thus, almost any suggestion we made
in cosmology was a prototype.
The Big Bang Theory
Several significant modern theories were created beginning from the moment our
imagination of the universe began to coincide the real one. Currently the most popular
conceptions are probably the Steady State Universe and the Big Bang Universe.
Neither of these theories perfectly explains the universe we explore, but both are
being permanently checked as new information and ideas complete them. Of the two, the
Big Bang theory is certainly the most accepted and popular among the scientists and
among the ordinary people.
The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe is expanding and accelerating.
The theory assures that galaxies are moving every time further from each other, and the
energy of the Universe weakens. As a consequence, the universe expects eventual heat
death because the photons will continually move to longer wavelengths and the matter
will.
One Scientific Discovery that Supports the Theory
In 1912 while measuring the distances between stars, other cosmic bodies and
mainly huge wavelength, Vesto Slipher came to the conclusion that most of them were
escaping one from another. He had no idea what that objects represented but now we
call them galaxies. Curious fact, but a century ago Vesto Slipher thought these union of
stars may be practically a part of the Milky Way.

Later on, in 1924, Edwin Hubble proclaimed that these galaxies exist separately.
He observed a special type of variable star that has certain measures of brightness, size
and effects it produces on human eye and found the similar star models all over the
Universe; he calculated how far away they were from each other and from the zero model
and discovered, that all these stars belonged to the different galaxies, which are outside
the Milky Way.
Dark Matter in the Milky Way Galaxy
Vera Rubin and Kent Ford discovered Dark Matter in the 1970s. It was an
accident discovery, but crucial. Once they we observing the spiral galaxies and saw that
the astronomic objects far away from the galactic center were moving with same speed as
the closest ones. That was misunderstood because the gravity could not provide to that far
away stars the same speed. Thus, the astronomers understood there was an enormous
amount of matter within the galaxies. This provoked the creation of such specific notion
of the Dark Matter.
In 1978 the astronomers discovered that the Dark Matter surrounded our Milky
Way galaxy and, in fact, new study has provided evidence that it exists within the Milky
Way as well. Furthermore, the study of 2015 by University of Stockholm has
demonstrated the dark matter exists around us and between us in our solar system.
Dark Energy and the Future of the Universe
The date of the universe is determined and undetermined at the same time. The
previous research has provided the hypothesis of the big freeze, big rip, big crunch, big
bounce and false vacuum. However, conclusions are not certain, and alternative options
are quite possible. We need to understand that the theories can be either true or false.

Therefore, it is possible that the dark matter explorations could be changed resulting the
effects which are almost impossible to predict e. As the nature of dark matter and energy
are hidden and unknown, the possibilities around are unknown as well.
Theory of Everything
A theory of everything is an ultimate final theory. It is a framework of physics that
completely explains and the connection between all physical aspects of the universe. This
theory starts the description of world creation from the very beginning and includes the
works of Greek scientists and philosophers. Furthermore, the finish line throughout this
theory is still not clearly defined. Nowadays, there is no main theory of everything that
has an ultimate model that organizes and includes the particle physics and general
relativity. Most scientists still work on the development of this theory. They conduct the
space explorations, research the galaxies and black holes, write and summarize the
necessary material concerning the cosmic experiments.
Conclusion
Summarizing all the basic facts about the our Universe, I can declare that our past,
present and future, though organized and structured long before our century, are still the
objects of the detailed research and exploration. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, the Dark
Matter and the Black Holes represent the most interesting subjects to observe and to
describe for the further generations. We need to doubt them, we need to work on the truth
and we need to follow our globalized progress. And the space is our ultimate way to the
evolution of the human kind.

References