the size and structure of the universe - quia...- an average galaxy (milky way) consists of 100’s...
TRANSCRIPT
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when considering the facts in this presentation, keep in mind:
•Earth’s diameter (distance across center at widest point) approximately = 8,000 miles (12,800 kilometers) (Seems big, doesn’t it?)
THE SIZE AND STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE
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Meteors, Comets, Asteroids, Moons 1. COMETS, METEORS, AND ASTEROIDS are relatively small “chunks” of rock that usually orbit a star
2. MOONS are USUALLY larger than comets / meteors / asteroids, but smaller than planets. They ALWAYS orbit a planet, NOT THE SUN
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3. PLANETS – Bodies that orbit stars.
• The diameter of
Jupiter is 142,984 km
across. That’s 11.2 times
bigger than the diameter
of Earth. More than
1,300 Earths could fit
inside Jupiter
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4. Stars are balls of gas that produce their own energy by the process of NUCLEAR FUSION; they are the major features of galaxies • diameter of the sun (an average star) = 870,000 miles (1,392,000 km.)
• That’s over 100,000 times the diameter of the Earth. Over 1,000,000 Earths could fit inside of the Sun
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• Stars can be 1000’s of times larger in diameter than our sun:
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The diameter of Betelgeuse is 1,000 times that of the sun, or about 1,000,000 times that of the Earth
(sun – asteroid belt if at center of solar system instead of sun)
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Over 100 planets have been found OUTSIDE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, orbiting other stars (called EXTRASOLAR PLANETS)
OUR STAR SYSTEM IS CALLED THE SOLAR SYSTEM (our sun’s name = “sol” : “sol-ar” system)
5. STAR SYSTEMS: consist of one or more stars (usually 2 or 3) and the objects (planets, moons, comets, asteroids) that orbit them
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***NEBULAE ARE THE “BIRTHPLACES OF STARS” – several star systems can form in one nebula!
6. NEBULAE are HUGE clouds of gas and dust – ranging in size from the size of many stars to 1000’s of light years across
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THE SPEED OF LIGHT = 186,000 MILES / SECOND, OR 300,000 KILOMETERS / SECOND
ONE LIGHT YEAR : IS DEFINED AS THE DISTANCE THAT LIGHT CAN TRAVEL IN ONE YEAR, AND =
5.9 TRILLION MILES (5,900,000,000,000)
or
9.5 TRILLION KILOMETERS (9,500,000,000,000)
LIGHT YEARS : are used to measure
HUGE astronomical objects and
distances:
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SO, THE MILKY WAY IS APPROXIMATELY 5,900,000,000,000,000,000 MILES LONG, AND TRAVELLING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, IT WOULD TAKE YOU 100,000 YEARS TO TRAVEL FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER
- An average galaxy (Milky Way) consists of 100’s of billions of stars (100,000,000,000) and a similar # of star systems
- Diameter of an average galaxy (Milky Way) = 100,000 LIGHT YEARS
6. GALAXIES are the major features of the universe
Each point
of light is a
CLUSTER
OF
STARS!!!
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7. GALAXY GROUPS AND CLUSTERS are various sized
groups of galaxies “hanging around” together
(remember, each galaxy shown consists of 100’s of billions of stars!!!)
THE LOCAL
GROUP
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100’s of galaxies. Area of sky photographed = size of Lincoln’s eye on a penny.
The Hubble Deep Field Photograph
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EACH POINT OF LIGHT IS A GALAXY!!! (1000’s per supercluster)
OUR LOCAL SUPERCLUSTER
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consists of 100’s of billions of GALAXIES (100,000,000,000), and EACH GALAXY HAS 100’s of billions of stars, SO THE UNIVERSE CONSISTS OF APPROXIMATELY 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 STARS!!!
8. THE UNIVERSE:
- AGE OF THE UNIVERSE: APPROX. 13.7 BILLION YEARS (13,700,000,000 YRS.)
- SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE: APPROX. 90 BILLION LIGHT YEARS, or
(531,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 MILES (earth’ diameter = 8000 miles))
EACH
POINT OF
LIGHT IS A
GALAXY
SUPER-
CLUSTER!!!
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Each point of light is a SUPERCLUSTER OF GALAXIES!!!
THE UNIVERSE
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OUR UNIVERSE MAY BE JUST ONE OF MANY (DOZENS? HUNDREDS? THOUSANDS? MORE?)
? THE MULTIVERSE?
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So, to review and put this all in perspective:
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THE UNIVERSE – PERHAPS ONE OF MANY
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GALAXY SUPERCLUSTERS – 10 MILLION IN THE
UNIVERSE
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OUR LOCAL GROUP OF GALAXIES – 10’S TO
100’S PER SUPERCLUSTER
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THE MILKY WAY – ONE GALAXY – 10’S OF
BILLIONS IN THE UNIVERSE
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STARS – 100’S OF BILLIONS PER GALAXY
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THE SUN – THOUSANDS OF TIMES SMALLER
THAN THE LARGEST STARS
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PLANETS – THOUSANDS OF TIMES SMALLER
THAN AVERAGE STARS
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THE EARTH – HUNDREDS OF TIMES SMALLER THAN
THE “AVERAGE” PLANET
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Feeling small???
Good ol’ Medfield, Ma
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… would take ≈ 12 years. (Just one way!)
(based on existing spacecraft speeds and the average distance from Earth – Neptune (4.2 Billion Miles))
A Trip to Neptune….
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Alpha Centauri is part of a closely orbiting binary about 4.37 light years from Earth.
Time to get to Alpha Centauri. Fastest: Gravitational assists
A “future” spacecraft
traveling at 150,000
MPH would be
18,748.8 years.
Distance to closest star
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The Andromeda Galaxy located at a distance of 2 million light years away
At the speed of light it would take ~2.2 million years.
Trip to nearest galaxy
• At 150,000 MPH, it
would take approx.
9 billion years
(9,000,000,000 yrs),
or 2 times the length
of time that the
Earth has been in
existence
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Worm Holes – “interstellar shortcuts”
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Black Hole
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black hole is a region of space that has so much mass concentrated in it that there is no way for a nearby object to escape its gravitational pull.
Black holes are the evolutionary endpoints of stars; at least 10 to 15 times as massive as the Sun.
Black Hole