EARTH AND THE SOLAR SYSTEMEarth Science

2013Pulford

The Universe

Astronomers define the universe as all of space and everything in it.

Galaxies A galaxy is a huge group of

single stars, star systems, star clusters, dust, and gas bound together by gravity.

There are billions of galaxies in the universe.

The largest galaxies have more than a trillion stars.

Galaxies

Astronomers classify most galaxies into the following types: SpiralEllipticalIrregular

Spiral Galaxy

Elliptical

Irregular

Our GalaxyThe Milky Way

Our solar system is located in a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way.

From the side, the Milky Way would look like a narrow disk with a large bulge in the middle.

But from the top view, the Milky Way would have a spiral, pinwheel shape.

Milky Way-Side View

Sun’s location

Milky Way-Top View

Sun s location

The BIG BANG Accepted theory about how the universe

was created About 13.7 billion years ago, the universe

was no larger than the period at the end of this sentence.

This tiny universe was incredibly hot and dense.

The universe then exploded in what astronomers call the big bang.

Scientific Proof behind the Big Bang Theory

Edwin Hubble was able to study other galaxies and see if the were moving towards us or away from us

He could also tell us how fast they were moving (most galaxies are moving away from us)

Hubble’s law states that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us. Hubble’s law strongly supports the big bang theory.

Scientific Proof behind the Big Bang Theory

Cosmic Background Radiation In 1965, two American physicists

accidentally detected faint radiation on their telescope.

This mysterious glow was coming from all directions in space.

Scientists later concluded that this glow is the leftover heat energy from the big bang.

This energy was distributed in every direction as the universe expanded.

Animation of the Big Bang

Graphic Organizer

THEORYEvidence