THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE Planet- round object in space that is held

Scale- the size or level of something together by its own gravity

Light Year (ly)- the distance that a ray of -moves around the star and has
light moves in on Earth year. cleared orbit
-not a measure of time -dwarf planet similar in size but has
-equal to the speed of light times one not cleared its orbit
year (9.46x1012 km = 63,230 AU) -mass of planet range from 3.0x10 21kg
Speed of Light 9c)- speed at which to 2.5x1028kg
electromagnetic radiation (light) travels Solar system- large collection of different
through a vacuum celestial bodies, such as planets and moons
-constant throughout the universe that move around the sun
-equal to 300,000,000 m/s Local Group- a group around 50 galaxies,
Astronomical Unit (AU)- average distance that stretches about 10,000 light years
between the Earth and the Sun measured in across
units of lengths equal to 1.5 x108 km or 150 Local Bubble- describes the area filled with
million km scattered and energetic plasma in space
Parsec (pc)- unit of distance determined between stars, covering about 300 light
from the paralllax of nearby stars due to years in diameter.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun -sun located in this area
-one parsec is the distance a star Solar Neighborhood- refers to a specific
would be if it exhibits a parallax angle seen area in the space surrounding the sun
from Earth of 1 arc second (1 arc second = -diameter of 65 light years
1/3600 of a degree) Galaxy- massive group of stars, often
1 pc=206,265 AU=3.262 light- containing hundreds of millions of more, held
years=3.0857x1013 km together by the force of gravity
Parallax- the apparent shift in the position Observable Universe- portion of space
of an object due to a change on the that humans can observe, either through
observer’s viewpoint. technology or theoretically.
-Uses the Earth’s motion around the Cosmic address
sun to measure the distances to nearby stars  Earth: diameter 12,742 km
Star- a large space object made mostly of  Solar System: one star, eight planets,
gas numerous smaller bodies
-held together by its own gravity  Milky Way Galaxy: Contains 100-400
-gives off light and energy billion stars
-generate light and heat through  Local Group: Collection of nearby
nuclear fusion (combining hydrogen and galaxies
helium at very high temp.)  Observable Universe: Sphere with
-mass range from about 2.5E+28 kg radius of 46.6 billion light years
th
up to 2.0E+32 kg (1/80 ) the mass of the Solar system scale
sun up to 100 times of the mass of the sun  Sun to Mercury: 57.9 million km
 Sun to Earth: 149.6 million km (1 compared to the vast empty space
astronomical Unit) between them
 Sun to Neptune: 4.5 billion km Modeling the Universe
 Kuiper Blet exdents beyond Neptune  Planet Earth
 Oort Cloud: Extends nearly 1 light-year  Age: 4.543 billion years
from Sun  Gravity: 9.807 m/s2
Galactic Dimensions: Milky Way  Radius: 6,371 km
 Milky Way diameter: 100,00 light-  Orbital Period: 365 days
years  Mass: 5.972 E 24 kg
 Thickness of Galactic Disk: 1,000  40,075 km in circumference
light-years  It takes 0.13s for light to navigate the
 Distance to galactic center: 26,000 whole Earth
light-years  Sun
 Spiral arm structure  1.39 million km in diameter
 Central supermassive blalck hole:  Sun’s diameter is 109 times greater
Sagittarius A* than Earth
The observable Universe  1.3 million earth needed to fit inside
 Age: 13.8 billion years the Sun
 Observable radius: 46.5 billion light-  11,780 earth lined up side to side to
years bridge the 1 AU between Earth and
 Contains 2 trillion galaxies Sun
 Cosmic web structure  Solar System
 Uniform on largest scale  8 planets, thousands of thousands of
Between the Galaxies planetoids and asteroid, billion of
 Local groups spans 10 million light-years comets and meteoroids
 Andromeda Galaxy: 2.5 million light  Mostly distributed in a disk around
years away the Sun
 Virgo Supercluster: Our cosmic  Sun blows a constant wind of
neighborhood charged gas into interplanetary
 Vast voids between galaxy cluster space (Solar wind)
Cosmic Hierarchy: Each level increases in  Solar neighborhood is the area of the
scale exponentially galaxy that is approximately 32.6 light
 Planets-Stars-Star Cluster years away from the Sun, giving it a
 Galaxies-Galaxy group-Galaxy Cluster diameter of about 65 light-years.
 Supercluster-Cosmic Web (with filaments  Stars travel along with the Sun as it
of galaxies connecting dense regions) orbits the center of the galaxy.
 The universe is mostly empty space:  Located within a large bubble of
Vast distances between objects, with warm gas in space known as the
relatively small galaxies and stars, Local Bubble.
 Milky Way Galaxy
  A giant disk of stars 160,000 light Milky way Galxy- 100,000 light-years wide;
years across and 1,000 light years spiral galaxy
thick Galaxies- are grouped together in cluster
 Over 100 billion stars in the Milky and supercluster, creating a massive cosmic
Way network; huge collections of stars, gas, dust,
 Spiral arms are only 5% more dense and dark matter; come into different shapes
than the average and are the like spiral, elliptical, and irregular
locations of new star formation Astronomical Distance Methods
 Parallax
 Local Group  Most direct method for measuring
 Contains 3 large spiral galaxies- Milky stellar distances
way, Andromeda (M31), and  Measures the apparent shift in star’s
Triangulum (M13)-plus a few dozen position as Earth orbits the Sun
dwarf galaxies with elliptical or  Distance calculated using
irregular shape trigonometry
 About 6.5 million light-years in
diameter
 Local Cluster
 Cluster of many groups and cluster of  Effective up to approximately 1,000
galaxies light-years
 Largest cluster is the Virgo Cluster,  Forms a foundation for cosmic
containing over 1,000 galaxies distance ladder
 Clusters and group of galaxies are
gravitationally bound together, but
the cluster and groups spread away
from each other as the Universe
expands; has a flattened shape
 Local group is about 130 million
light-years across
 Observable Universe
 About 93 billion light years in
diameter  Methods:
 Look at the star from two

Universe- incredibly enormous different locations in Earth’s

-light-years is used to measure the orbit, such as six months apart

distance in space, which is how far light  Measure how much the star

travels in one year seems to move compared to the

Proxima Centauri- closest star; more then background of farther stars

4 light-years away  A bigger parallax angles=star is

closer to us
  Limitation: only works well for stars  Measure the apparent brightness
that are relatively near Earth of the standard candle
 Hipparcos Satellite of the  Compare it to its known absolute
European Space Agency measured brightness
the distances to 100 thousand stars  Calculate the distance by looking
within 1,500 light-years of the Sun at the difference of the
 Standard Candle- objects that are brightness
known to have a steady brightness; used  Spectroscopic Methods
this to measure the distances by  Spectral Parallax - use the
comparing their observed relationship between a star’s spectral
brightness with true brightness. type (linked to its temperature) and
 Cepheid Variable, e.g., Polaris its brightness rather than actual
(North Star); type of star that parallax.
pulses in brightness; the period it  Observes the star’s spectral line
takes for this tsar to go from their  Determining the spectral type
brightness to their dimmest point (O,B,A,F,G,K,M)
and back again is related to how  Helps to estimate the star’s
much light they emit intrinsic brightness
(luminosity); this determine their  Measure the apparent brightness
absolute magnitude using the  Calculate the distance by using
inverse square law of light (an the inverse square law of light
object’s brightness decreases (brightness decreases with
with distance) distance squared)
 Type 1a Supernovae, e.g., SN 1987A Redshift: Measures galaxy recession
in the large magellanic cloud velocities; explains how fast a galaxy is
 Consistent peak brightness of moving away from us based on how far it
4.8x109 solar luminosities is.
 Period Luminosity Relationship  Hubble-Lemaitre Law: v=H0(d)
 Longer period=greater luminosity  V= recession velocities
 RR Lyrae stars  H0= Hubble constant
 OLDER, less luminous standard  d = distance
candles  Essential for measuring distances to
 Used for measuring galactic and distant galaxies.
extragalactic distances  Modern techniques & Technology
 Used to measure distances of stars in  Interferometry - combines multiple
space by comparing the observed telescope for precise measurement;
brightness (apparent magnitude) to measures the precise arrival time of
its actual brightness (absolute radio waves formt he distant objects
magnitude) at different telescopes
 Methods:
  Gravitational Lensing- uses bent matter but for which the electric charge and
light form distant objects; use this to magnetic moments are in opposite sign.
estimate the distance to both the Hadron- any member of a class of
lensed object and the massive object subatomic particles that are built from
causing the lensing quarks and thus interact through the agency
 Space-based Telescope- GAIA of the strong force
MISSION: creating a 3D map of Nucleosynthesis- production on a cosmic
milky way; measuring the positions scale of all species of chemical elements
and distances of stars accurately; from perhaps one or two simple types of
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE: deep atomic nuclei, a process that entail large-
field imaging; provides detailed scale nuclear reactions including those in
images of distant galaxies, enabling progress in the Sun and other stars.
astronomers to apply techniques like Plasma- an electrically conducting medium
redshift to determine the distances; which there are roughly equal numbers of
JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE: positively and negatively charged particles,
observing the cepheid variables and produced when atoms in a gas become
other standard candles in distant ionized.
galaxies; this can calibrate the TIME EVENT
cosmic distance ladder more 10 -35
s Very high
accurately. temperature; quarks
HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE to gluons; quarks are
Quark - any member of the group of combined with short-
elementary subatomic particles that interact lived quarks to make
by means of the strong force and are quarks and gluons;
believed to be among the fundamental matter and energy
constituents of matter are same
Gluon - the so-called messenger particles of 10 – 32
s Temperature
the strong nuclear force. Which binds continues to drops
subatomic particles known as quarks within down; quarks are no
the protons and neutrons of stable matter as longer being made
well as within heavier, short-lived particles into energy
created at high energies 10 -9
s Quarks form new
Neutrino - elementary subatomic particle particles; hadrons
with no electric charge, very little mass, (protons and
and 1/2 unit spin; belong to the family neutrons)
called leptons (not subject to strong force) 1s Atoms is made from
Antimatter- substance composed of hadrons and
subatomic particles that have the mass, electrons; create a
electric charge, and magnetic moment of the secure and
electrons, proton, and neutrons of ordinary electricallly neutral
 space; no star yet 10⁻¹² N interaction
200 s There was visible s separated
light from
300,000 y Universe cooled electromagn
down; neutrons etic and
transforms into weak force;
protons (made from universe
hydrogen-first atom); expanded by
universe grown to a factor of
100 billion km; 10 10 25
in 10⁻³²
billion degrees s (inflation
celsius hot in the era); ended
universe; full of when part of
energy particles energy
transformed
TIME TEMP ERA EVENTS to matter.
SINCE (K) 10⁻¹² - 10¹⁵ QUARK Gravity
THE 10⁻⁶ s began to
BIGBA control the
NG expansion of
0 - undefi PLANCK Bigbang the
10⁻⁴³ s ned occurred; universe;
universe quark era
cam to ended
existence leaving a
10⁻⁴³ - 10³² GUT Universe slight excess
10⁻³⁵ expanded of matter to
s and cooled; populate the
gravity future
separated universe
from the 10⁻⁶ – 1 10¹³ HADRON Universe
strong, s had cooled;
electromagn quarks and
etic and antiquarks
weak combined
interaction and form
(Grand protons,
unified neutrons,
theory era) and their
10⁻³⁵ - 10²⁷ INFLATIO Strong anti-particles
1 – 10 s 10¹⁰ LEPTON Universe particles;
had cooled; photons
no new evident
lepton/antile today in the
pton is COSMIC
formed MICROWAV
10 s 10¹⁰ - PHOTON Universe E
onward 10⁹ S dominated BACKGROU
s by photons, ND
which RADIATION
interacted (CMBR)
with protons, 10⁹ yr 3,000 MATTER First star
electrons DOMINATE were formed
and D ERA 100-200
eventually million years
nuclei after the
3-20 10⁹ PHOTON Protons and bigbang;
mins S neutons first galaxies
began fusing were formed
to form after 1
helium and billion years
deuterium after the
nuclei bigbang;
(nucleosynth geavy
esis) elements
300,00 3,000 MATTER Hydrogen were
0- DOMINAT and Helium created in
380,00 ED ERA nuclei supernova
0 years captured explosion
electrons 8.4 x Sun and
into orbits 10⁹ yr solar system
around them formed
to form 13.7 Humans
stable, x10⁹ yr appeared on
neutal the earth
atoms;
photons no Georges-Henri Lemaitre (1894-1966)
longer  Father of big bang
interact with  Proposed that if the univers is
charged expanding and has been doing since
 it began. “This moment and point  They become stable first as the
would represent the beginning of the universe began to cool
universe”

George Gamow OBSERVABLE CHANGES IN THE

 Proposed that the big bang resulted POSITION OF OBJECTS
in an extremely hot universe, which Celestial Objects - astronomical bodies
cooled rapidly from trillions of visible in the sky
degrees to about one billion degrees Rotation- Earth spins on its axis
in one second and further to a few Revolution - earth orbit around the sun
thousand degrees after a half million Apparent Motion - perceived moment of
years as the universe expanded. objects in the sky
Cosmic Microwave Background Celestial Sphere - imaginary sphere
Radiation (CMBR) surrounding Earth
 has been travelling through the Diurnal Motion - daily apparent motion of
universe since 380,000 years after celestial objects
the big bang; slight temperature Zenith - point directly overhead in the sky
variation indicate differences in Horizon - sky appears to meet the ground
matter density Why do we have day and night?
 The WILKINSON MICROWAVE -because the earth spins or rotates
ANISOTROPY PROBE (WMAP) displays -perpetual day: side always have
this variation; red areas represent sunlight
warmer temperature; blue areas -perpetual night: side always be in
represents cooler ones. darkness
What was created after the big bang? Terminator Line- line separating the light
 Space and dark side of the earth move as the
 Time planet spins
 Energy (mostly heat) DAILY SOLAR MOTION
Why did atoms not form until 380,000 -Sun appears to move from east to
years after the big bang? west
 The universe was too hot Solstice
 When the universe cooled to about -latin word “sol” meaning SUN, and
4000K, electrons and protons “sistere” meaning STAND STILL
combined to forms neutral atoms -occurs twice a year; sun is at its
Why were hydrogen and helium the first highest and lowest point in the sky
atoms in the universe? -Northen Hemisphere, the summer
 They are the simplest elements solstice happen in June 21; North pole tilts
 Need least amount of energy to form towrd the sun; Tropic of Cancer, located at
23.5 degrees north latitude; sun is directly at -occurs when the moon is positioned
overhead between the Earth and the sun; sunlight
Equinox- day and night are equal; sun takes reflected toward the earth
it path during the summer and winter -spring tide happens (highest point of
solstice; VERNAL EQUINOX: March 20-21; the moon)
AUTO=UMNAL EQUINOX: September 21-22 Waxing Crescent
-small slice of the moon is visible as it
faces away from the earth
First Quarter (Half moon)
STARS -moon is quarter of the way through
-summer in the northern hemisphere its cycle; rises midday and sets at midnight
we can see constellation like scorpius, has -neap tide occur (lowest point of the
the bright red star ANTARES moon)
-in winter, we can see constellation
like Orion, known for its three belt stars and
bright stars such as Betelguese (red Waxing Gibbous
supergiant) and Rigel (blue supergiant) -large portion of the moon is lit up and
MOON visible; appears brighter in the sky
-27 day for the moon to orbit the Full Moon
earth -moon is opposite the sun; appears
-has day side and night side largest and brightest; rises at sunset and set
-moon shines by reflecting sunlight at sunrise; lunar eclipse occur at this phase
-changes occur over approx. 29.5 -BLUE MOON refers to the second full
days moon within the single month; SEASONAL
-new moon occurs when the moon is BLUE MOON describes the third full moon
between the sun and earth where in a season it contains four full moons
-full moon happens when the moon -Second full moon - AUG. 31, 2023 and
is behind Earth MAY 31, 2026
-waxing: growing; appears to grow -Third full moon - AUG. 22, 2021 and
larger AUG. 19, 2024
-waning: shrinking; appears to grow -spring tide happens (highest point of
smaller the moon)
-first and third quarter phases occur Waning Gibbous
about a week apart -illuminated part of the moon starts to
-crescent and gibbous phases called shrink; facing sun lit; facing earth darkens
intermediate phases; gibbous moon is more Third Quarter (Last quarter)
than a half is illuminated; and crescent moon -moon is three-quarters way through
is less than a half its orbit; half illuminated; moon rises at
Sequential Phases of the Moon midnight and sets at noon
New Moon
 -neap tide occur (lowest point of the -polish mathematician and
moon) astronomer
Waning Crescent -first European challenged the earth-
-moon is getting smaller; thin arc of centered view after roman times
the moon is visible -argued that the sun is at the center of
FOUNDATION OF ASTRONOMY the earth
Origins of astronomical observation -Heliocentric Model, had been
-babylonians, egyptians, and greeks earlier suggest the Aristarchus; Sun-centered
develop the early astronomical observations model of the solar system
and caledars -published his theories in De
Ancient Civilizations Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
 Mesopotamians: Star Cataloging presenting a model where mercury, venus,
 Egyptians: Calendar Development earth, mars, jupiter, and saturn revolve
 Greeks: Mathematical Astronomy around the sun in circular orbits
Key Figures -Galileo’s observation: used telescope
 Eratosthenes (c. 275-195 B.C.E.) to observe that the moon orbiting in Jupiter
-First to measure the Earth’s and phases of venus
size mathematically -Impacts: shift from geocentric to
 Aristarchus (c. 310-230 B.C.E.) heliocentric model
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
-proposed that the Earth -italian scholar who recognized as the
revolve around the sun first modern scientist
 Hipparchus (c. 190-120 B.C.E) -made a significant contribution to
-created accurate star maps astronomy by using telescope
and studies the geometry of the sky -observe the phases of Venus,
 Ptolemy (c. 85-165 C.E.) mountains on the moon, stars in the milky
- his model of solar system was way, and four moons of jupiter
widely accepted Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
-Geocentric model: Earth- -Danish nobleman
centered universe; earth is the -built Uraniborg, an observation with
center and the sun and planets precise instruments of planetary motions
revolve around it; explanation of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
planetary motion; dominant model -german astronomer
for 1,500 years; all stars are -published “Mysterium
positioned on a celestial sphere and Cosmographicium” in 1596, which explored
far from the earth; challenges: the connections between celestial object and
observations of planetary retrograde geometric shapes like sphere and cubes
motion did not fit the model -collaborated with Brahe to formulate
Nicholar Copernicus (1473-1543) the fundamentals law governing planetary
motions
 -studies the supernova he names as Law of Harmonies (Third Law): The time
kepler’s supernova believing it to be a it takes for a planet to complete one orbit
new star (its orbital period) squared is directly related
-also confirmed Galileo’s finding about to the size of its orbit (the semi-major axis)
the Jupiter’s moon, referring to them as cubed. This is written as p2=a3.
satellites Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation:
-renowned for his three laws of states that every particle in the universe
planetary motion which describes how attracts every other particle. The strength of
planets orbit the Sun this attraction depends directly on the
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) masses of the objects and inversely on the
-formulate the laws of motion and the square of the distance between them.
law of gravity
Ellipses: describe the orbits of planets
Foci: two sperical point; the total distance
from any point on the ellipses to these two
foci is always the same
Eccentricity: refers to how much an ellipse
is stretched out; has an eccentricity of zero,
while very flat ellipse has an eccentricity
close to one
Axes: longest line through the center of an
ellipse is called the major axis; shortest is
minor axis; half of the major axis is known as
semi-major axis.
Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary
Motion
Law of Equal Areas (First Law): Planets
travel in elliptical paths with the Sun at one
focus. This means the distance between a
planet and the sun changes as the planet
moves along its orbit.
Law of Equal Areas (Second Law): As a
planet orbits the sun, the line connecting it
to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal
time periods. This means planets speed up
and slow down. They move fastest when
they are closest to the Sun (called
perihelion) and slowest when they are
farthest away (called aphelion).