Lesson 1

Origin of the
Universe & the
Formation of the
Solar System
John Myles D. Canuto, EcT, LPT
 TARGET
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1.Enumerate and analyze the different hypotheses
explaining the origin of the universe;
2.Enumerate and analyze the different hypotheses
explaining the formation of the solar system; and
3.Gather information on recent astronomical research.
 OPTIMIZ
E will show
Your teacher
pictures of the planets found
in the Solar System. Identify
them correctly to gain high
points in the recitation.
 NAVIGATE
01 Early Beliefs on 02 The Route to the
the Origin of the Big Bang
Universe
The Formation
03 The Fate of the 04 of the Solar
Universe
System
 01
Early Beliefs on the
Origin of the
Universe
The early civilizations observed the night
sky and were able to prepare star charts
and models of the universe. Early
creation myths described the nature and
origin of the universe. The Egyptians,
Chinese, and other early civilizations
forwarded the idea of chaotic rivers or
oceans interacting from the skies or from
singularities that started to grow or
expand in the dark space.
Classification of Beliefs
THEISM ATHEISM
Belief on a divine Belief on a
creator who created random origin of
the universe the universe
 GEOCENTRI
More than 2,000 years ago, Euxodus,
SM
Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other Greek
natural philosophers, believed that Earth
is located at the center of a constant
universe. Celestial objects that can be
observed from Earth like the planets,
satellites, or the stars are perfect orbs.
They move in uniform circular motions as
the spheres in which thy are attached
revolve around the Earth. This is called
geocentrism.
 HELIOCENT
With the Italian astronomer, mathematician,
RIC
and philosopher Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
and the Polish astronomer and
mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-
1543), the geocentric model of the solar
system was replaced by the heliocentric
model. Here, the celestial objects and
planets including Earth are moving around
the Sun. Further refinements of the idea
came after the ideas of other astronomers
such as the German astronomer, Johannes
Kepler (1571-1630).
02
THE
ROUTE TO
THE BIG
BANG
 William
Edwin Hubble Vesto Slipher
(1889-1953) Huggins
(1824-1910) (1875-1969)
American Astronomer who argued American Astronomer who
that more distant objects are English Astronomer who
was allowed to show that
moving away at greater rates in 1968 discovered the
inferred that the universe was not most nebulae were moving
redshift. away from the Milky Way
static, and in fact, expanding.
galaxy.

The Route to the Big Bang

 The steady-state theory of the
expanding universe proposed
by the British scientists
Hermann Bondi (1919-2005)
and Thomas Gold (1920-2004)
in 1948 explains that the
universe is expanding although
it does not account for the
origin of the universe.
 The steady state theory argues that even if
the universe is expanding, it has always
existed in its present state such that when
galaxies move apart and the new matter is
formed. In this theory, there is a continuous
creation of matter rather than an origin.
Eventually, it was falsified due to
observations that universe evolved.
 Father George Lemaitre (1894-1966)
In 1927, he proposed that the
universe began as a single
“primeval atom” that exploded and
eventually caused an expanding
universe. This theory was based on
Einstein’s theory of relativity and
redshift data available during his
time.
 George Gamow (1904-1968)
A Russian-American physicist
who refined Lemaitre’s idea and
postulated that there is
measurable cosmic microwave
background radiation that are
remnants of the initial
explosion.
 Arno Allan Penzias & Robert Woodrow Wilson

In 1965, German-American
astrophysicist Penzias and American
radio astronomer Wilson measured
the 2.7 Kelvin radiation that
confirmed Gamow’s theory. This
now forms part of the most
comprehensive theory on the origin
of the universe we call the big bang.
 BIG BANG THEORY
According to the big bang theory, initially, there was no space and matter. Then about
13.8 billion years ago, a big bang moment occurred from a singularity, and space
came into existence; energy that would be converted to matter filled this space. This
formation of matter and expansion of space continued until today. The pieces of
evidence that support this theory include the current data on the expansion, the
relative abundance of elements, and the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Presently, it is assumed that our
universe is about 70% dark
energy, 25% dark matter, and
5% radiation and visible
matter. Hydrogen, deuterium,
and helium atoms comprising
the matter of the initial
universe are believed to have
been formed about 13.8 billion
years ago in the big bang.
 These initial components
created the first stars, and
nucleosynthesis in the stars
created the other elements
including carbon (C), silicon
(Si), calcium (Ca), magnesium
(Mg), potassium (K), and iron
(Fe). Heavy stars collapsed,
bursted, and exploded in a
phenomenon known as a
 During a supernova, the heavier elements from
iron to as heavy as Uranium (U) were created.
Across galaxies, clusters of gas started to rotate
and accrete to form stars and their systems. This
mechanism is highly attributed to the gravitational
force – “the great architect of the universe”.
 03
The Fate of
the Universe
 Since the universe is evolving
and expanding, what will happen
to it in the future? The fate of
the universe depends on its mass
and the rate of expansion. There
are at least three possible
outcomes for the universe. It
may collapse, stop expanding, or
continue to expand. Recent data
support the claim that the
universe is accelerating and thus
will expand further.
04
THE
FORMATION
OF THE
SOLAR
SYSTEM
The most accepted theory of the
origin and formation of any
stellar system such as our solar
system is the proto-planet
nebular model or hypothesis.
About 5 billion years ago, our
solar system started to form a
very hot dense ball and nuclear
reactions that formed the Sun.
 Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827)
Laplace, who is a French
astronomer, proposed the
nebular hypothesis in 1976
that explains that the
concentration of gas and dust
that surround and orbit the
early Sun eventually
coalesced to form
planetesimals.
 In 1905, the planetesimal
hypothesis of US Geologist
Thomas Chamberlin (1843-
1928) and American
astronomer Forest Moulton
(1872-1952) stated that a star
was close enough to the Sun
and this interaction allowed for
the ejection of materials from
the Sun that eventually cooled
and condensed into
planetesimals and
protoplanets.
The Chamberlin and Moulton theory
is no longer accepted, but the
concept of planetesimals forming
planets and other objects in the solar
system remains. On the other hand,
from 1974 to about 1977, John R.
Dormand and the British physicist
Michael Mark Woolfson (1927-2019)
proposed a capture and planetary
condensation theory that states that
fast encounters allow the Sun to
capture materials that may condense
to planets.
 The recent model of the protoplanet
hypothesis integrates many ideas
from the previous theories. It states
that planets formed and grew in size
by the accretion of planetesimals. It is
believed that our Sun and the planets
in the Solar System were formed
about the same time. Early Earth was
very hot and was a ball of molten
materials. Gravity eventually
gathered and organized materials
that allowed it to achieve its spherical
nature. The force of gravity also
created the layers of Earth due to
 Recent astronomical
research include
understanding the
heliosphere, extraterrestrial
life, and other bodies like
comets that are in the
Kuiper belt and farther out
the Solar System in a
region referred to as the
Oort cloud.
 THANK
S! Do you have any questions?
jmdcanuto@letranbataan.edu.ph

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