The Universe

There are multiple Galaxies in the universe, such as the Milky Way Galaxy.
There are about 100 billion to 200 billion different galaxies in the universe:
Lightyears apart. All in different levels of the universe. This essay will cover
What a lightyear is, the universe and the different levels, the 8+ different
types of galaxies, what stars are, what stars are made of, what the big bang
theory is and who came up with it and much more.

Lightyears
What is a Lightyear?

Well a lightyear is a type of measurement which is different from other

measurement types. A lightyear is the distance light travels in one year, The
speed of which the light beam moves through interstellar space is at 300,000
kilometres (186,000 miles) per second and 9.46 trillion kilometres (5.88 trillion
miles) per year. Nothing is faster than light, as to why we use light-time to
measure substantial distances of space.

How fast is light?

Now that we have talked about a lightyear and why it is used and how fast it is,
let's talk about how fast light actually is. Light itself can travel 17960279.04
kilometres (11,160,000 miles) in a single minute. Light travels up to 1079869824
kilometres (671 million miles) in an hour. Earth is 147.25 million km
(91496908.0569 miles) away from the sun, meaning it takes 8 mins and 33.33
seconds.

The Universe
Now that we have talked about what a lightyear is and how far it is, let’s talk
about the universe.

What is the Universe?

The universe is made up of everything, including all types of matter. Along with
all types of energy. It is made up of dark matter (~68%), dark energy (~27%)
and everything that we can observe (~5%).

What is Dark Matter?

Well we aren’t actually sure what dark matter is, but we know what it isn’t. We
know that it isn't a form of dark cloud called baryonic clouds, as it would then
be visible via detection of radiation being absorbed as it passes by. And it isn’t
in the form of stars and planets as there is too little visible matter in the
universe. It is not an antimatter either, because there are no observed gamma
rays when it destroys matter. But we do know that it has a gravitational pull
and does not emit or reflect light.

What is Dark Energy?

Dark energy supposedly composes approximately 68% of the universe, although
scientists are still yet to actually discover and understand what dark energy is
actually made up of. However a matter similar to Dark energy would explain the
acceleration rate of the universe. In the 1920s it became known by astronomers
that the universe expands. In the 1990s, after observations on a distant
supernovae (a star explosion) it was found the the speed of expansion in the
universe has accelerated since the past. There seems to be no clear reason as
to why this has happened; but the leading theory, as to what explains what dark
energy is, the universe holds a type of matter that possesses a repulsive
gravitational pull. Meaning it repels matter apart opposed to together.

How many Galaxies are there in the universe?

As stated before there are an estimated 100 billion to 200 billion galaxies.
Galaxies are made up of a lot of exoplanets orbiting stars. The closest known
galaxy is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy which is 236,000,000,000,000,000 km
(25,000 light years) from the Sun.

Galaxies - The Different Types

Spiral Galaxies
The Spiral Galaxies is the galaxy that our home planet, Earth, is located in. They
resemble pinwheels and they are shaped like pancakes, with a cluster of stars
towards the centre. The arms of the spiral can either be put together tightly or
loosely. Halos, star clusters, dark matter and mixtures of stars all surround a
spiral galaxy. Some of the arms of the spiral galaxies are more gas rich, housing
newer stars, whereas older stars are mainly found in the bulge of the halo and
the disk. There is a subtype of spiral galaxies called a barred galaxy. What
differs other spiral galaxies to barred spiral galaxies, is from a curved line of
dust, stars and gas that cut through the centre. Scientists believe that the bar
in a galaxy is a sign that the galaxy is in its most mature state.
Elliptical Galaxies
Elliptical Galaxies are less common than Spiral Galaxies, and forms anywhere
between perfectly round and an oval like shape. There is very little structure
and generally little gas or dust. The stars in an Elliptical Galaxy will orbit around
a core in random directions and seem to be mostly older than stars in spiral
galaxies as there is not nearly enough gas to form new stars.

Lenticular Galaxies
A lenticular galaxy is a mix between an Elliptical Galaxy and a Spiral Galaxy. Like
the Spiral Galaxy they have a disk and a central bulge, but have a small
population of newer stars, and tend to have an older star population. As of right
now we have no idea how Lenticular Galaxies formed but there are quite a few
theories that have been proposed, such as Lenticular Galaxies were Spiral
Galaxies whose arms faded over time. Another suggests that they are composed
of Spiral Galaxies of the same size merging.

Irregular Galaxies
Irregular Galaxies have a, well Irregular shape. Anything from a little grouping
to a ring to a toothpick. The smallest they can be Dwarf Irregular Galaxy which
can be 100 million times the sun’s mass (3.955 x 10^30 x 100 million =
~395500000000000000000000000000000000000000 kg or 3.955^38) while
the largest ones can be up to 10 billion times the sun’s mass (3.955 x 10^30 x
10 billion = ~39550000000000000000000000000000000000000000 kg or
3.955^40). Irregular Galaxies composed up of interactions between galaxies will
tend to have a blend of old and new stars, depending on the attributes of both
the original galaxies. Irregular galaxies may hold a notable amount of dust and
gas. The main, vital ingredients to make a star.

There are a lot of theories as to how Irregular Galaxies form, Some

Astronomers believe that irregular shapes are from interactions with others;
e.g. if two galaxies pass each other and the gravitational pull of one may change
and distort the other galaxy, creating an irregular galaxy. Or that when large
galaxies collide, they create a larger one, misshapen. Some scientists hypothesis
that some large irregular galaxy could be a sign of an intermediate step between
a spiral and elliptical galaxies.

Active Galaxies
When a galaxy is active, the centre appears to be 100 times brighter than the
combined light of their stars. An Active Galaxy is able to be an Irregular,
Elliptical and Spiral. In the past few million years ago, the Milky Way Galaxy
would have had a few bursts of energy as it was the last known active point. A
common theory among astronomers is, the extra energy comes from the
galaxies’ inner supermassive blackholes. The mass of one of these massive
blackholes could be anywhere from hundreds of thousands to billions of times
the Sun's mass. A minimum of (1.989 x 10^30) x 100’000 = 1.989^35
(198,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg).

The gravity of the blackhole will draw in gas and dust, compressing and heating
it. This then causes the matter to glow over an array of wavelengths, between
x-rays and infrared. Infrared observations reveal that a chunky band of colder
dust seems to be embedded in the blackhole and its acceleration disk. This is
called a torus, and they appear to be a couple of light-years wide. A small
amount of infalling gas can be expelled at a ninety degree angle, by the jets of
particles moving past at the speed of light.

Partway through the 20th century, astronomers began observing these active
galaxies’ and sorting them based on their characteristics and behaviours. It is
now believed by scientists that if you view an active galaxy at different angles
it can give away multiple signature traits of that galaxy. These different angles
may target the side of the torus , or the top.

Active Galaxies’ are also sorted by brightness in radio wavelengths. Typically

these Radio wavelengths are produced by the jets and its acceleration disk.
Galaxies that have very little or no emissions are classified as radio silent
galaxies. Viewing the Jets can lead to a brighter and different observation than
if you were to look at a wider angle.

Seyfert Galaxies
Carl Seyfert was the first to observe and recognise a Seyfert Galaxy, in the
year 1943. These types of galaxies seem to be very active but visit low
wavelength frequencies. All Seyfert Galaxies release infrared radiation,
although it may not be visible. When these Seyfert Galaxies are observed they
will emit a ring shaped torus. Some Galaxies have a lower light radio luminosities,
while they can also produce radio jets.

There are two types of Seyfert galaxies, these two are:

- Type 1: Seyfert Galaxies that are type one tend to exhibit unusual
behaviour in their visual light that could only be explained by a rapidly
moving object near the acceleration disk
- Type 2: These Seyfert Galaxies are the opposite of the Type 1 Seyfert
galaxies; With there seems to be a slower object moving around the
acceleration disk.
HOWEVER, This contrast may be caused by two different viewing angles.
Quasars

The second last type of galaxy is the Quasars. These galaxies are the brightest
type of galaxies, emitting light across electromagnetic wavelengths, generate
strong jets, and could produce radiation thousands of times more than a spiral
galaxy. Markarian 231, located 600 million lightyears away from earth, is the
closest Quasar galaxy.

There have been found more than 1 million quasar galaxies with the farthest one
known to be as far as 13 billion lightyears away (currently – 12/1/24). These
being found are very useful, as light takes time to travel. Therefore Scientists
can use this to study blackhole growth and the evolution of blackholes as well as
the universe.

Combining two galaxies in the earlier stages of the universe, may have been the
cause of these. When two of these galaxies combine, it gives the Quasars
enough fuel to support the amount of light produced and expelled. However
when the gas runs out, the blackhole’s gravitational pull cannot contain all the
remains. It is theorized that the activity of the galaxy happens in episode and
could only last 10 million years.

Blazers

Blazers emit light through the electromagnetic spectrum. Their jets seem to be
facing earth. Therefore they seem to be brighter than other galaxies. If
observed from earth, we may be able to detect some high frequency, neutrino
like particles. Usually made and expelled from the jets, and these allow us to
trace them back to their home Blazer. This gives us enough information for us
to understand the environment around its supermassive blackhole.

Stars
In this section will be talking about what a star is, what it is made up of and
more.

What is a star?
A star is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium, along with a few other
elements. Every star has its own different lifespan from a few millions to
trillions of years. As the star ages, the properties change.
How does a star form?
Molecular clouds are large clouds of dust and gas, these Molecular clouds can be
anywhere from 1,000 to 10 million times the mass of the sun and can be so big it
covers hundreds of lightyears. High density pockets are formed by the cold
temperature of the Molecular clouds; these cold temperature causes the gas to
clump up forming molecular clouds.

Sometimes these clumps will collide together, strengthening their gravitational

force as their mass grows. After a while of this happening the clumps can
collapse, the heat this generates from the friction will eventually lead to a
Prostar starting to develop (baby star). Groups of these stars that have formed
recently, are called stellar clusters. Molecular clouds are littered with these
stellar clouds. Molecular clouds full of stellar clusters are called stellar
nurseries.