OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUR UNIVERSE

1st Sem - Earth Science | STEM-11

Main Objects in Universe

THEORIES ABOUT THE FORMATION OF 1. Stars
THE UNIVERSE 2. Galaxy
3. Nebula - large accumulation of
TELESCOPE space dust and stars
➔ Instrument used to observe the
Albert Einstein
universe
➔ The universe is finite, a closed
➔ Hans Lippershey (1570-1619)
A Dutch eye-glass maker is the four-dimensional sphere
first person to invent the ➔ The universe as a whole was
telescope homogenous
➔ Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
BIG BANG THEORY
-Designed one of his own, made
some improvements without ❖ Evidences
even seeing the original 1. Expansion of the universe
-He was able to learn more of the - Studied observations by Edwin
universe, Moons of Jupiter, Sides Hubble and Carl Witz. The
of Suns, and Venus
universe was expanding based
on the degree of the redshift they
❖ James Webb Space Telescope
➔ Launched in Dec 2021 had observe
➔ JWST, it can take pictures with the
stunning detail free from the
distortions of Earth’s atmosphere

Webb’s
First Deep 2. Background Radiation
Field - The afterglow of the big bang is
called “Cosmic Background
Radiation”
- In 1965 Arno Penzias and Robert
Wilson received a signal/noise to
verify its existence.
 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUR UNIVERSE
1st Sem - Earth Science | STEM-11
3. Abundance of Element
- The proportion of helium in the
universe should be about 24%.
This was verified by experiment.
❖ The universe - 14 Billion years
George Lemaitre
➔ Belgian Priest
➔ Astronomer
➔ Physics Professor
Creation of heavier elements
George Gamow
- big bang created all of the light
elements
➔ Eventually the universe continued
to cool heavier elements were
produced as well
Assumptions:
➔ Universe, is homogenous
➔ The smooth universe is dominated
by gravity alone and therefore
must either contract to or expand
Problem:
➔ The universe is not smooth
➔ There were very tiny clumps
➔ Fluctuations found that there
must be hundred times more dark
matter than visible matter. BUT
there is no observable evidence.
Dark Energy - 73% (the “force” that
makes the universe expand)
Ordinary - 4% (the matter we
understand)
Dark Matter - 23% (unknown)
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
➔ WMAP, found that the universe is
13.8 billion years old
THEORIES ABOUT THE FORMATION OF
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
WHAT MAKES A PLANET
❖ Orbit around the sound
❖ Has sufficient mass to assume a
nearly round shape
❖ Is not a satellite (moon)
❖ Has cleared the neighborhood
❖ Has not cleared the
neighborhood (other planets)
around its orbit
Terrestrial Planets
-Planets Close to the sun
Mercury Venus Earth Mars:
➔ They are rocky and small
➔ No or few moons
➔ No rings
Jovian Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
➔ They are gaseous
➔ Has Rings
➔ Many Moons
Solar System:
 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUR UNIVERSE
1st Sem - Earth Science | STEM-11

❖ The sun took 10 million years to sun, the ice grew and formed the
form. Gas Giants.
Planetary Orbits - Left-overs around the planets:
- Almost circular (elliptical) orbits Asteroids and Comets
around the sun
- Counterclockwise except venus EXPLORATIONS:
and uranus Using Radar to Study Planetary Surfaces
- radio waves sent from spacecraft
to surface
Major Observations Included
- waves reflect is rough
in Every Theory:
- waves bounces away if the
surface is smooth
- The solar system is extremely flat
Remotely observe temperature and
- The sun’s rotation axis has a tilt of
composition
6 degrees
- measure infrared energy given
- 99.9% of the total mass = Sun
off
- Red warmer ares
Nebular Hypothesis (1796) - Blue are cooler; loose sediment
Exploring the Surfaces of Other Planets
and Moons
- Started by the interstellar cloud
- Pierre-Simon Laplace
- This was a monistic theory What can we observe about
- Huge cloud of gas which was a planet or moon?
spinning slowly
- It collapsed and started spinning
- Composition, atmosphere,
more quickly and began to
impacts, tectonics, volcanism,
flatten to conserve angular
erosion/deposition
momentum that caused a
nuclear reaction
Impacts and craters
- Mutual gravity caused these
- Objects from space collides the
rocks to form a planet
surface, as comet did on Jupiter
- Colder outer regions, the ice
(1994)
combined with vast gas from the
 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUR UNIVERSE
1st Sem - Earth Science | STEM-11

- Craters surround by apron of -lava domes

ejected pieces
Mercury vs Earth vs Io
Mercury
- Many impact
- Small objects
Earth
- Large enough to retain heat and
atmosphere
- Earth’s distance from the sun
makes it habitable
- Earth is located within the
expected shell of distance in
which liquid water can be on the
surface of the planet.
Io
- Active volcanoes: reheated by
gravitational effects
Crater abundance tells us the relativity
age of surfaces
Mercury
Why Earth is special
- Water exist
- Atmosphere and water
- Generates enough heat for plate
tectonics
Mars
- The red planet
- mostly basalt lava with some
sedimentary rocks
- Dust (storms) and sand (dunes)
cover much of the surface
The Moon
- Lunar highlands
- Rayed impact craters are
youngest
- Made up of igneous rocks
- Moon orbits earth every 28 days

-innermost planet
-no erosion or wind
-covered with craters
-small and no tectonic activity Jupiter and Its Moons
-460 degrees during day, -80 degrees - huge , mostly hydrogen and
night helium
Venus - Red spot and swirls are in
atmosphere
-thick atmosphere causes high surface
temperatures
 OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AND OUR UNIVERSE
1st Sem - Earth Science | STEM-11

- Four moons discovered by

Galileo

Saturn
- Huge and dominated by
hydrogen and helium
- Rings consist if icy chunks the size

Uranus
- Gas blue giant caused by
methane
- Axis of rotation and rings nearly
perpendicular

Neptune
- Blue color due to methane
- Has complete a full orbit of the
sun since discovered
- Diamonds are raining in Neptune

Pluto (Planet X)

- Reclassified as a dwarf planet

- Has a moon named Charon
- Smaller than Earth