Title: The Origin of the Universe
1The Origin of the Universe
Miami 20 November 2002
MALS 601
2Summary
- The Scientific method
- The view of the Universe before 1900
- The Greeks
- The Heliocentric system
- The view of the Universe after 1900
- Einstein Theory of relativity
- Beyond the solar system
- Hubble law
- The Big Bang theory
3The Scientific Method
Observations Theory Predictions Experimental
verification
4Observations
5Observations
6Observations
7Observations
8Theory
Theory 1
9Geocentric theory
- Movement is not so simple
- The movement is not perfectly periodic
- There are monthly annual and longer term changes
10Geocentric theory
- Movement is no so simple
- Planets
11Geocentric theory
- Movement is no so simple
- Planets
- Distance to the objects
12Geocentric theory
Ptolemy The Almagest A.D. c.100-c.178
13Geocentric theory
14Geocentric theory
SUN
Venus
EARTH
Mercury
15Geocentric theory
Simplicity
SUN
Venus
EARTH
Mercury
16Simpler theories
Heliocentric system the planets (including
Earth) rotate around the Sun and the Earth is
also spinning around its axisPythagoreans
Aristarchus of Samos Plato () Copernicus
Hybrid geocentric system the Earth is not
moving the planets rotate around the Sun that
rotates around the EarthHeraclides of Pontus
Tycho Brahe
17Heliocentric theory
Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolutions of the
Heavenly Spheres 1473-1543 Johannes
Kepler Epitome of Copernican Astronomy The
Harmonies of the World 1571-1630 Galileo
Galilei Sidereus Nuncius 1564-1642
18Heliocentric theory
19The phase of Venus
20The phase of Venus
Galileo Galilei c1610
21Parallax
22Parallax
winter
23Parallax
summer
24Parallax
summer
1832 Alpha Centauri (nearest star)
Henderson Vega Friedrich von Struve 61 Cygni
Friedrich Bessel
25Beyond the solar system
26Beyond the solar system
2) The star distribution in the milky way is
asymmetric with respect to the Earth but is
rather symmetric with respect to a point in the
constellation of Sagittarius (Shapley 1915)
The Sun is not at the center of the Galaxy
27Beyond the solar system
3) There are other galaxies in the Universe in
addition to ours (Hubble)
28Beyond the solar system
4) There are billions of galaxies in the Universe
Solar System Galaxy Universe COSMOLOGY
29Doppler effect
30Doppler effect
31Doppler Effect in Galaxies
Earth
32Hubble law (redshift)
ALL DISTANT GALAXIES ARE RECEDING FROM US
Edwin Hubble 1929
33Consequences of Hubble Law
If all the galaxies move away from us does it
mean that we are at the center of the Universe
What happens if we rewind the tape of the
Universe
How old is the Universe
34Expansion of the Universe
If all the galaxies move away from us does it
mean that we are at the center of the Universe
35Expansion of the Universe
What happens if we rewind the tape of the
Universe
36Age of the Universe
speed H distance
AGE OF THE UNIVERSE IS APRROXIMATELY THE INVERSE
OF THE HUBBLE CONSTANT T 1/H
T 2 1010 years 20000000000 years
37Evolution of the Universe
What happened at the beginning What will happen
in the future
- COLD BIG BANG
- HOT BIG BANG
38The Big Bang Theory
39The Big Bang Theory
40The Big Bang Theory
Can we try to see the explosion
41The cosmic microwave background
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson 1965 (Nobel Prize
in 1978)
42What will happed in the future
43What happened before the Big Bang