Space

Good morning Puan Norliza, our English teacher and my fellow friends. My topic today is about
space.
Fellow friends, have you ever wondered if we are the only ones in this vast universe or do you
think that extraterrestrial life exists but somehow, our technology isnt advanced enough yet to
discover them? Now, what comes to mind when I say the space? Do you think of galaxies, stars
or maybe Pluto? Just recently, our space probe called New Horizons, flew by Pluto on the 14th
July 2015.
New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as part of NASA's New
Frontiers program. It is also the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet. The spacecraft was
launched on 19th January 2006 to study Pluto, its moons and the Kuiper belt,
performing flybys of the Pluto system and one or more other Kuiper belt objects. Yes, it took us
almost 10 years to reach Pluto from Earth. This space probe has a speed of about 16.26
kilometers per second or 58,536 km/h. It set the record for the highest launch speed of a humanmade object from Earth. Before the flyby of Pluto, New Horizons flew past the moon, an
asteroid and Jupiter.
Now, back to our topic, Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and
events have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in
three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, to be part of a boundless
four-dimensional continuum known as space-time. Now, are space and astronomy related?
Astronomy is a natural science which is the study of celestial objects (such
as stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids,comets and nebulae), the physics, chemistry,
and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth,
including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic microwave background
radiation. In short, astronomy is the study of space.
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as
the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese and Maya performed
methodical observations of the night sky. However, the invention of the telescope was required
before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Historically, astronomy has
included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy and
the making of calendars, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be
synonymous with astrophysics.

During the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and
theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of
astronomical objects, which is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical
astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe
astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical
astronomy seeking to explain the observational results and observations being used to confirm
theoretical results.
Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role, especially in
the discovery and observation of transient phenomena. Amateur astronomers have made and
contributed to many important astronomical discoveries.
Do you want to know how stars or galaxies or planets are born? It all started
some 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang. The Big Bang theory states
that the universe expanded from a very high density state. And it seems that
it is expanding at an increasing rate as we speak. You might be wondering
what it means when they say the universe is expanding. When scientists talk
about the expanding universe, they mean that it has been growing ever
since its beginning with the Big Bang.
The galaxies outside of our own are moving away from us, and the ones that
are farthest away are moving the fastest. This means that no matter what
galaxy you happen to be in, all the other galaxies are moving away from you.
However, the galaxies are not moving through space, they are moving with space, because space
is also moving. In other words, the universe has no center; everything is moving away from
everything else. If you imagine a grid of space with a galaxy every million light years or so, after
enough time passes this grid will stretch out so that the galaxies are spread to every two million
light years, and so on, possibly into infinity.
The universe encompasses everything in existence, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy;
since forming in the Big Bang, it has been expanding and may be infinite in its scope. Meaning,
we can never reach the edge of the universe. Ever.
Before I end this speech, I would like to recommend the movie Interstellar to all space lovers out
there. In my opinion, it is one of the best movies Ive ever watched. This movie has a lot to do
with space and has won many awards. Watch it, and prepare to get mind-blown. Thank you.