Earth’s Place in

the Universe

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/spiral/2009/07/image/g/results/50/
 What are we going to cover?

 Galaxies
 Stars
 Solar System
 First up…

 Our Place in the Universe

 What is our Universe made of?
 How big are things? How far away?
 How do we know?
Q1 - How did the entire
universe come from
nothing?

Q2 - How did the universe

started?
 Astronomers have figure out that the universe is
about 13 billion years old.
 The universe began with an explosion of space
itself the BIGBANG.
 In 1920's in california astronomer Edwin
Hubble observe distant galaxies using an
extremely powerful telescope
 Georges Lemaitre a BELGIAN PRIEST who
discovered the bigbang theory.
 The
“Discovery” of
Galaxies

At the beginning of the 20th

century, what we now call
spiral galaxies were referred
to as “spiral nebulae” and
most astronomers believed
them to be clouds of gas and
stars associated with our
own Milky Way.
The breakthrough came in
1924 when Edwin Hubble
was able to measure the
distance to the “Great Nebula
in Andromeda”and found its
distance to be much larger
than the diameter of the
Milky Way. This meant that
M 31, and by extension other
spiral nebulae, were galaxies
in their own right,
comparable to or even larger
than the Milky Way.
 Galaxy Classification
- In 1924, Edwin Hubble
divided galaxies into different
“classes” based on their
appearance.
Why begin here?
Hubble classification serves as the basic language
of the field.
The morphological sequence reflects a
fundamental physical and, in some ways,
evolutionary sequence, which offers important
clues to galactic structure, formation and
evolution.
 Galaxies
- a group of billions of stars and
their planets, gas, and dust that
extends over many thousands of
light-years and forms a unit
within the universe.
-Held together by gravitational
forces, most of the estimated 50
billion galaxies are shaped as
spirals and ellipses, with the
remainder being asymmetric.
 GALAXIES,
GALAXIES,
GALAXIES!

Hubble categorized these

shapes or basic schemes
of galaxies:
1. Spiral
2. Elliptical (nearly
circular)
3. Irregular
 Spiral Galaxies
- Arms tightly wound around galaxy, like a
pinwheel
-A group of objects in center (stars and
possibly a black hole)
-Surrounded by a halo and an invisible cloud
of matter.
 Spiral Galaxies

- Rotating – which forms arms

- May lose arms and become elliptical

Examples: Milky Way and Andromeda

Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies
 Elliptical Galaxies

 Can be round, oval, flattened or spherical

 Resembles the nucleus of a spiral galaxy
without the arms
 Very little gas or dust
 Elliptical Galaxies

Mostly older stars

Collect into globular clusters

Examples: Maffei 1, M32

Elliptical Galaxies
 Irregular Galaxies

 Neither spiral or elliptical

 Disk, but no spiral arms
 Caused by the formation of new stars in the
galaxy or by the pull of neighboring
gravitational fields
 Irregular Galaxies

 In some irregular galaxies one can see

individual stars, nebulae, and clusters
 Mixture of old and new stars
 Large amounts of gas and dust
 Examples: Large and Small Magellanic
Clouds
Irregular Galaxies
 Barred Spiral
Galaxies

Spirals with bright

bar of gas down
center.
 Lenticular Galaxies

 Consists of bulge and disk with little or no

new star formation.
 Example: Spindle Galaxy
 Parts of a Galaxy – The Disk

 Contains clouds of gas and dust called

nebulae
 In a spiral galaxy, most stars are in the disk
 Open Cluster (Galactic Clusters) are
younger, asymmetric groups of stars.
 Parts of a Galaxy

 The galaxy is made up of two visible

components:
 1. Disk

 2. Bulge
 Parts of a Galaxy – The Disk

 An example of a galactic cluster is Pleiades

(M45)
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 A large squashed sphere surrounding the

galaxy’s center
 Contains older stars
 Not very much gas or dust
 One fifth of the total light comes from the
bulge
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 The bulge can be used to determine the age

of the galaxy
 Above and around the bulge are globular
clusters – hundreds of thousands of stars
bound in a tight spherical swarm
 Parts of a Galaxy - Bulge

 An example of a globular cluster is M13

(Hercules Globular Cluster)
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 Over 100 billion stars and possibly a black

hole in the center.
 Has star clusters, planets, glowing nebulae,
dust and empty space.
 Older stars and globular cluster near the
center
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 Younger stars and galactic clusters in disk

 One hundred thousand (100,000) light years
in diameter. Ten thousand (10,000) light
years thick
 Our solar system is located on the Orion
Arm – 30,000 light years from the center.
 The Milky Way Galaxy

 The Milky Way is getting larger because it

is “eating” the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its
stars are being added to the Milky Way.
 The Milky Way is falling toward the
Andromeda Galaxy and both are feeling the
tug of the great Virgo Cluster, which is 50
million light years away.
 STARS

Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/2003/21/image/a/res

ults/50/
 Types of Stars

 Big
 Small
 Red
 Blue
 Yellow
 In groups
 Alone
 More later
 What is a “star cluster”?

 stars formed together at

same time
 stars may be
gravitationally bound
together
 two types: open
(galactic) and globular

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/2007/18/image/a/format/web/res
ults/50/
 Open Clusters

 dozens to thousands of stars

 young stars! only a few
million years old
 may still be surrounded by
nebula from which they formed
 located in the spiral arms of a
galaxy
 example: Pleiades

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/open/2004/20/image/a/results/50/
 Globular Clusters

 millions to hundreds of millions of

stars
 old! 6 to 13 billion years
 mostly red giants and dwarfs
 stars are clumped closely together,
especially near the center of the
cluster (densely)
 surround our disk as a halo

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/1999/26/image/a/res
ults/50/
 Large, massive, bright nebulae

- It is a cloud
of high
temperature of
gas.

Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/

 Colder, darker nebulae

- Not letting
the light
through

NOAO/AURA/NSF Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/dark/2001/12/image/c/re

sults/50/
Leftovers from an Explosion

-structure of
explosion

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2005/37/results/50/
Young
stars
form in
nebulae

from Small
Magellanic
Cloud

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/04/image/a/results/50/
Star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/31/image/a/results/50/
Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/
Interstellar “eggs”

Newborn
stars

- Young
stars
continue to
grow as
they
accumulate
more and
more
Movie at http://www.stsci.edu/EPA/PR/95/44/M16.mpg
 Our Sun is a Regular/ Small Star

- Stars are
object that
produces
own energy
through the
fusion of
reaction of
gases.
Image at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011210insidesun.html
 By 5 billion years… White
Dwarf
- Typically the
size of the
planet.
- It only expels
the outer
material but
the hot core
will remain.

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/1998/39/results/50/
Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2000/28/image/a/format/web_print/results/50
/
Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2004/27/image/a/format/large_web/results/50/
Massive
Stars are
different

- It evolved in
much the same
way of the sun
does.

Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/emission/1997/33

/results/50/
 Betelgeuse—Red Supergiant

Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/massive%20star/1996/04/image/a/results/50/

 Supernova—Massive Star
Explodes

- This is the biggest

explosion.

Images at
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/supernova/2004/09/results/50/
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2005/37/results/50/
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/casa/
 Neutron Star or Pulsar

Neutron stars are

formed when a
massive star runs out
of fuel and collapses

- Dame Jocelyn
Bell Burnell is the
one who
discovered
PULSAR.
Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2002/24/results/50/
 Black Hole

black holes of about

the same mass as a
star

Using Hubble data,

astronomers were able to
describe the black-hole
system

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2002/30/image/a/results/50/
The gravity is so
strong because matter
has been squeezed into
a tiny space.
Our Solar System
 Can you name the 8 planets in our Solar
System? This includes Earth…
 Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
The Inner Planets
(Terrestrial
Planets)
 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
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 likeEarth
 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.
Outer Planets
(Gas Planets or Jovial Planets)
 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.
 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 tai
Asteroids
 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, METEORITES,METEORS

 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.