THE UNIVERSE
TERMS
ASTRONOMY - The study of the universe, planet’s origin and members of solar system
METEOROLOGY - Study of atmosphere and elements that
produce weather
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EARTH SCIENCE/GEOSCIENCE - The study of our Earth
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BARYONIC MATTER - “Ordinary” matter consisting of protons, electrons and neutrons that comprises atoms,
planets, stars, galaxies and other bodies
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LIGHT YEARS (9.46x1012 km) - The distance light travels in a year
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THERMONUCLEAR FUSION - A nuclear fusion reaction responsible for the energy produced by the stars
NON-SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT
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Ancient Egyptians - The world arose from an infinite sea at the first rising of the sun
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Kuban people of Central Africa - Mbombo (Bumba) vomited the stars, sun and
moon
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India - Purusha, a primal man whose head, feet eyes and mind became the sky, earth, sun, and moon
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT
STEADY-STATE MODEL- Proposed by Bondi and Gould, and by Hoyle. States that new matter is created there by maintaining its density eventually rejected
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BIG BANG THEORY - Currently accepted theory of the origin and evolution of the Universe
Postulates that 13.8 billion years ago, the
Universe expanded from a tiny, dense and hot
mass to its present size and much cooler state.
Rests on two ideas:
General Relativity and Cosmological Principle
Has withstood the tests for expansion:
redshift, abundance of H,He, and Li,
and pervasive cosmic microwave
background
STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION, AND AGE
4.6% baryonic matter, 24% dark matter,
and 71.4% dark energy
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Dark matter may explain what may holding
galaxies together
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Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium are the
three most abundant elements
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Stars are building blocks of galaxies.Galaxy are clusters of
billions of stars. Superclusters are clusters of galaxies
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13.8 billion years old!
1929 - Edwin Hubble, Discovery of the “redshift”
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Doppler Effect - Moving away, ↑wavelength, ↓energy
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Cosmic Microwave Background - Discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson (1964) Faint glow in the microwave band from blackbody radiation
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