The Universe

(Handouts)

The Universe is the largest astronomical structure we know of. It contains all matter and radiation and encompasses all
space. Astronomers estimate that there are about 125 billion galaxies in the universe . A galaxy is a group of stars, dust,
and gases held together by gravity. One of the galaxies is the milky way where the solar system is found. The solar
system consists of the sun, planets, their moons, and other bodies that orbit.
Structure, Composition, and Age

It is made of 4.6% baryonic matter (ordinary matter consisting of protons, electrons, and neutrons: atom,
planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other bodies), 24% cold dark matter (matter that has gravity but does not
emit light) and 71.4 % dark energy (a source of anti-gravity)
Dark matter can explain what may be holding galaxies together for the reason that the low total mass is
insufficient for gravity alone to do so while dark energy can explain the observed accelerating expansion of the
universe.
Hydrogen, helium, and lithium are the three most abundant elements.
Stars- the building block of galaxies born out of clouds of gas and dust in galaxies. Instabilities within the clouds
eventually results into gravitational collapse, rotation, heating up, and transformation to a protostar- the core of
a future star a thermonuclear reaction set in.
Stellar interiors are like furnaces where elements are synthesized or combined/fused together. Most stars such
as the Sun belong to the so-called main sequence stars. In the cores of such stars, hydrogen atoms are fused
through thermonuclear reactions to make helium atom. Massive main sequence stars burn up their hydrogen
faster than smaller star like our Sun burn up hydrogen in about 10 billion years.
The remaining dust and gas may end up as they are or a planets, asteroid, or other bodies in the accompanying
planetary system.
A galaxy is a cluster of billion of stars and clusters of galaxies from superclusters. In between the clusters is
practically an empty space. This organization of matter in the universe suggests that it is indeed clumpy at a
certain scale. But at a large scale, it appears homogeneous and isotropic.
Based on recent data, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. The diameter of the universe is possibly infinite but
should be at least 91 billion light-years ( 1 light-year=9.4607 x 1012 km). It density is 4.5 x 10-31 g/cm3)

ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Non-scientific Thought

Ancient Egyptian believed in many gods and myths which narrate that the world arose from an infinite sea at the
first rising of the sun.
The Kuba people of Central Africa tell the story of a creator god Mbombo (or Bumba) who, alone in the dark and
water-covered Earth, felt an intense stomach pain and then vomited the stars, sun, and moon.
In India, there is the narrative that gods sacrificed Purusha, the primal man whose head, feet, eyes, and mind
became the sky, earth, sun, and moon respectively.
The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Chritianity, and Islam claim that a supreme being created the universe,
including man and other living organisms.

Big Bang Theory

As the currently accepted theory of the origin and evolution of the universe, the Big Bang Theory postulates that
13.8 billion years ago, the universe expanded from a tiny, dense and hot mass to its present size and much
cooler state.
The theory rests on two ideas: General Relativity and the Cosmological Principle. In Einsteins General Theory of
Relativity, gravity is thought of a distortion of space-time and no longer described by a gravitational field in
contrast to the Law of Gravity of Isaac Newton. General Relativity explains the peculiarities of the Orbit of
Mercury and the bending of light by the Sun and has passed rigorous tests. The Cosmological Principle assumes
that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic when averaged over large scales. This is consistent with our
current large-scale image of the universe. But keep in mind that it is clumpy at smaller scales.
The Big Bang Theory has withstood the tests for expansion: 1) THE REDSHIFT 2) ABUNDANCE OF H, He, AND Li,
and 3) THE UNIFORMITY PERVASIVE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION-THE REMNANT HEAT
FROM THE BANG.

Steady State Model

The now discredited steady state model of the universe was proposed in 1948 by Bondi and Gould and by Hoyle.
It maintains that new matter is created as the universe expands thereby maintaining its density.
Its predictions led to tests and its eventual rejection with the discovery of the cosmic microwave background.

The Plasma Universe

This theory states that the Big Bang never happened, and that the universe is crisscrossed by gigantic electric
currents and huge magnetic fields. Under this view the universe has existed forever, chiefly under the influence
of an electromagnetic force. Such a universe has no distinct beginning and no predictable end.
Little of the evidence for the Plasma Universe comes from direct observations of the sky. Instead, it comes from
laboratory experiments. Computer simulations of plasmas subjected to high-energy fields reveal patterns that
look like simulated galaxies. Using actual electromagnetic fields in the laboratory, researchers have also been
able to replicate the plasma patterns seen in galaxies. While still a minority view, the Plasma Universe is
gaining favor with younger, more laboratory-minded astronomers who value hard empirical evidence over
mathematical proofs.
MORE ON EVIDENCES SUPPORTING BIG BANG THEORY
The expansion of the universe was one of the most important intellectual discoveries of the 20th century,
or of any century. In the late 1920s the American astronomer Edwin Hubble made a very interesting and
important discovery. Hubble found that nearly all the galaxies were moving away from us. Moreover, the
further galaxies were from us, the faster they were moving away. The universe was not unchanging with time as
everyone had thought previously. It was expanding. The distance between distant galaxies was increasing with
time. It transformed the debate about whether the universe had a beginning. If galaxies are moving apart now,
they must have been closer together in the past.
To clock the speeds of these galaxies, Hubble took advantage of the Doppler effect. This phenomenon occurs
when a source of waves, such as light or sound, is moving with respect to an observer or listener. If the source
of sound or light is moving toward you, you perceive the waves as rising in frequency: sound becomes higher in
pitch, whereas light becomes shifted toward the blue end of the visible spectrum. If the source is moving away
from you, the waves drop in frequency: sound becomes lower in pitch, and light tends to shift toward the red
end of the spectrum. You may have noticed the Doppler effect when you listen to an ambulance siren: the sound
rises in pitch as the vehicle approaches, and falls in pitch as the vehicle races away.
To examine the light from the galaxies, Hubble used a spectroscope, a device that analyzes the different
frequencies present in light. He discovered that the light from galaxies far off in space was shifted down toward
the red end of the spectrum. Where in the sky each galaxy lay didn't matterall were redshifted. Hubble
explained this shift by concluding that the galaxies were in motion, whizzing away from Earth. The greater the
redshift, Hubble assumed, the greater the galaxy's speed.
Some galaxies showed just a slight redshift. But light from others was shifted far past red into the infrared, even
down into microwaves. Fainter, more distant galaxies seemed to have the greatest red shifts, meaning they
were traveling fastest of all.
In 1965 two scientists made a blockbuster discovery that solidified the Big Bang theory. Arno Penzias and
Robert Wilson of Bell Telephone Laboratories detected faint microwave radiation that came from all points of
the sky. They and other physicists theorized that they were seeing the afterglow from the Big Bang's explosion.
Since the Big Bang affected the entire universe at the same moment in time, the afterglow should permeate the
entire universe and could be detected no matter what direction you looked. This afterglow is called the cosmic
background radiation. Its wavelength and uniformity fit nicely with other astronomers' mathematical
calculations about the Big Bang.
Hubble's law: to measure the distance of an object from Earththe bigger the redshift, the more distant
the object.