The document provides an overview of the size and contents of the universe. It begins by explaining that the universe includes all physical matter and energy, from atoms to galaxies. It then notes that the tour will focus on the part of the universe outside Earth. The document goes on to summarize how human understanding of the universe's size has expanded over time, from only a few thousand light years across to immensely larger. It lists some of the key components that make up the universe, such as matter, energy, planets, stars, and more.
2. What is the universe?
The universe is……… basically, everything.
Scientifically, it’s defined as the totality
of everything that exists, including all
physical matter and energy, ranging
from the smallest atom to the biggest
galaxy-- the planets, stars, everything.
3. But…..
On our journey, we’ll only focus on
the huge part of the universe
that lies outside our earth.
Now, you may ask,
how HUGE is it?
4. How big is our universe?
How big is space? That is a question man has been asking since the •
beginning of time.
.
When your grandparents were in school, it was thought that the •
Universe was very small, perhaps only 5000 light years across.
500 years ago it was thought that the Universe was only a little bit •
bigger than the Earth.
.
In modern times, with the power of technology, we are finally •
starting to grasp the immense size of the Universe, and it is much
bigger than anyone could have ever imagined.
5. What is our universe made of?
This question has been around for centuries.
Our universe is made up of both matter and
energy, and includes cool stuff like.......
All on board the spaceship ‘Gizmo’!
Hold your breath and
get braced up to enjoy
the most thrilling ride
of your life!
6. OUR FIRST STOP: the
S.S.
On this ride, we’ll call the solar system
‘the S.S.’
As you know, our S.S. is made of eight
planets --Mercury, Venus, our Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Neptune and Uranus. They
all revolve around a common
central star, the Sun.
7. THE NEXT STOP: the
STARS
When you look at the night sky you can see
many beautiful stars. There are several
different kinds of stars in the sky. A couple
of stars have been found that are 100 to 200
times larger than the sun. Some are even
smaller than the Earth (Imagine that!)
10. Whoa, look at that!
Supernovae!
At the end of their
lives, many large
stars explode into
what is known as a
Supernova.
They’re
beautiful!
11. OUR NEXT STOP:
A
BLACK HOLE!
When a large star runs out of fuel it can no
longer support its heavy weight. The
pressure from the star's massive layers
of hydrogen press down forcing the star
to get smaller and smaller, finally reducing
into an atom.
Imagine that!
12. If you make something smaller by squishing it,
its gravity becomes much stronger. Imagine
then, if you squish a star into the size of an
atom how powerful its gravity would become.
A black hole's gravity becomes so powerful
that anything, including light that gets too
close, gets pulled in. That's right, not even
light can escape the grasp of a black hole.
Let’s get out of here before we get sucked in!!
13. Look! Isn’t that a
QUASAR?
A quasar is believed to be a supermassive
black hole surrounded by an accretion
disk. A Quasar can absorb light, stars
and even small galaxies.
14. Wow!!!
The light, radiation and radio waves from
these galaxies and stars being absorbed
into a black hole travel billions of light
years through space.
When we look at quasars which are 10-15
billion light years away, we are looking
10-15 billion years into the past.
Pretty amazing, right?
15. OUR FIFTH STOP: the
GALAXIES!
There are gazillions of Galaxies in the Universe!!
16. Kinds of Galaxies
Some galaxies are very small with only a few
million stars. While others could have as many as
400 billion stars, or even more.
There are three kinds of Galaxies, Spiral,
Elliptical, and Irregular. The only difference
between the three is what shape they are.
Spiral
Galaxy
Irregular
Galaxy
Elliptical
Galaxy
17. Wow, a
NEBULA!!
Yep, that’s what a nebula looks like!
A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in outer
space. These clouds are often very large,
spanning across many light years. There
are many different kinds of nebulae in
the sky.
18. Kinds of Nebulae
The first type of nebulae we are going to
explore are called Emission Nebulae, because
they emit their own light.
How do they emit their own light?
They glow red or pink as they expel extra
energy which they get from nearby stars.
Just like a neon sign.
19. A blue reflection nebula is completely different
from an emission nebula. This is because
rather than emitting their own light, they are
reflecting the light of the stars around
them.
They are blue because they reflect the light of
a star.