The Beginning of the Universe

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The Beginning of the Universe

• The universe was created 12-14 billion years ago
  in an event known as the big bang
• The universe started at an incredibly small
  volume
• It rapidly expanded and cooled
• four fundamental forces (gravity,
  electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear
  forces) were created

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The beginning of The galaxy

• The young universe did not have a perfectly even
  distribution of energy and particles.
• Concentrations of matter formed into clouds, then
  condensed into stars and the collections of stars
  we call galaxies.
• We live in a Galaxy known as the Milky Way

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The Birth of the Solar System

• The most prevalent theory is the Nebula theory.
• Nebula an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen
  gas and plasma
• An explosion from a nearby star
• caused the nebula to compress
• and Rotate
• Birth 5 billion years ago

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The solar system continued

• The center ball became the sun
• The rest of the disc condensed into rings of dust
  and gas
• The solar winds blew the lighter gases to the
  other rings.
• Gravity caused the rings to collect and form
  planets

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Some important terms

• Light years or minutes (the amount of time light
  takes to travel such a distance)
• When we see a star 4 light years away, we are
  actually seeing what it looked like 4 years ago
• Year The time it takes a planet to orbit the
  sun.
• Day The time it takes a planet to rotate 360
  degrees.

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The Sun

• Is a star like the millions of other stars in the
  universe
• It is 8 light minutes away
• The nearest star after the sun is 4.3 light years
  away.
• The sun is mainly composed of H and He.
• It behaves like an immense nuclear reactor, that
  will eventually run out of fuel
• 5770 C at the surface

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Review

• The Universe was created 12 14 billion years
  ago in an event called the big bang
• We live in a galaxy called the milky way.
• The solar system was created 5 billion years ago
  by an event called the Nebula Theory.

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Review Continued

• The Sun is a star composed mainly of Hydrogen and
  Helium
• It is a nuclear reaction inside the sun is what
  keeps it shinning. The sun will eventually run
  out of fuel.

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The search for life

• Is there life on other planets?
• What would the life form look like?
• What adaptations are necessary?
• This subject has gathered much interest by the
  scientists.

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Necessities of Life

• Scientist are currently searching extreme
  environments on earth to see if the can find
  life.
• The organisms that inhabit these extreme
  environments are known as extremophiles.
• There are 3 basic necessities for life.
• Liquid water
• Other elements
• A stable environment

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Where should we Search for life?

• Lets take a look at our solar system.

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The Planets

• The planets are divided into 2 types
• terrestrial
• Jovian (gas Giants)
• There are eight planets that rotate around the
  sun.
• One dwarf
• planet (Pluto)
• and one
• unclassified object
• (Sedna).

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Heres how you remember the Planets and their
order.

• My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine
  Pieces of Sushi.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
  Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Sedna

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• All the planets orbit in an almost circular orbit
  and in the same plane. (exception Sedna)
• Pluto orbit is off by 17 degrees

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The terrestrial planets

• Consist of the four planets closest to the sun
  Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
• Small in size compared to gas giants.
• Compact and Rocky
• Made mostly of heavy elements
• Few moons.

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Mercury

• Closest to the sun.
• No Atmosphere
• Surface is covered in Craters
• Temperatures up to 350 degrees Celsius on light
  side
• Temperatures as low as -170 degrees on dark side

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Venus

• Has a thick atmosphere
• composed mostly of CO2
• creating the greenhouse effect
• Temperatures as high as 480 degrees Celsius
• Volcanic Surface

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Earth

• Only planet known to contain life
• 75 of the surface is made up of water

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Mars

• It is called the red planet
• because it is covered in
• rusted Iron
• Contains the solar systems
• biggest volcano (known as
• Olympus Mons)
• Atmosphere consisting of CO2
• It is believed that it may have had life earlier
  on.
• There are signs that there once was liquid water.
• Is the most similar planet to Earth.

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Exploring Mars

• Mars has been extensively studied
• Currently NASA would like to see if there is
  liquid water at the polar ice caps

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The Phoenix Mission
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Day 1 Phoenix lands on Mars Searching the Polar
Ice caps

• The Phoenix landed on Mars Sunday
• Here is a picture
• Icy ground

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Asteroid Belt

• Separates the Terrestrial Planets and Gas Giants.

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The Gas Giants

• Very big
• Strong gravity and therefore have numerous moons
• Farther from the sun, cooler
• All have atmosphere
• Atmosphere mostly composed of Hydrogen and helium
• No solid surface
• Consist of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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Jupiter

• Biggest planet in the solar System
• One day 9 hours and 55 minutes
• However a year 11.9 earth years
• Has 16 moons
• One such moon is
• Europa

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Europa

• Scientists are fascinated by this moon belonging
  to Jupiter.
• an atmosphere consisting of Oxygen
• Believed to have Liquid water beneath the Ice
  covered surface.
• There are possibilities for life on this moon

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Saturn

• It is surrounded by immense rings of rock and ice
• The planet is less dense than water, and would
  float if dropped in a large ocean
• Made up of Hydrogen and Helium

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Uranus

• Atmosphere of Hydrogen, Helium and Methane
• Methane gives it its blue color

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Neptune

• Twin Planet of Uranus, similar size and
  atmospheric composition

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Pluto (dwarf planet)

• Smallest planet
• Furthest planet
• Takes over 248 years to orbit the sun.

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Sedna

• The object is three times farther away from Earth
  than Pluto, making it the most distant known in
  the solar system.
• It takes10,500 years to orbit around the Sun
• Currently it is unclassified.

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What is a satellite?

• A natural satellite (a moon) is a celestial body
  that revolves around a planet.

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Years on other Planets
Planet Distance from Sun (millions Km) Duration of year Temperature degrees Celsius
Mercury 57.9 88 days 127
Venus 108.2 224.7 days 462
Earth 149.6 365.3 days 15
Mars 227.9 687 years -63
Jupiter 778.4 11.86 years -148
Saturn 1 427 24.46 years -178
Uranus 2 871 84 years -216
Neptune 4 498 165 years -214
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Trends

• The further the planet is from the sun, the
  longer it takes the longer the year.
• Generally the further the planet, the cooler the
  surface temperature (depends also on atmosphere).

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What keeps the planets orbiting around the Sun?

• The gravity from the sun, keeps the planets
  revolving around the sun.
• Similarly when you drop an object on earth,
  gravity pulls the object towards the center of
  the earth.

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Comets

• A ball of snow, ice, rock and dust.
• Most comets revolve around the sun.
• When the comet passes near the sun, the ice
  Sublimates and the gases disperse creating a
  tail.

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Solar eclipse

• Occurs when the moon has moved to a place that is
  exactly between the earth and the sun.

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Lunar Eclipse

• A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is exactly
  between the sun and the Moon.
• The moon becomes masked by the shadow of the
  earth.

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