Chapter1

OurPlaceintheUniverse

1.1AModernViewofthe
Universe

Our goals for learning:

Whatisourplaceintheuniverse?
Howdidwecometobe?
Howcanweknowwhattheuniversewaslikeinthe
past?
Canweseetheentireuniverse?

Whatisourplaceintheuniverse?

Star
A large, glowing ball of gas that generates heat
and light through nuclear fusion

Planet

Mars

Neptune

A moderately large object that orbits a star; it

shines by reflected light. Planets may be rocky,
icy, or gaseous in composition.

Moon(orsatellite)
An object that orbits
a planet.

Ganymede(orbitsJupiter)

Asteroid
A relatively small
and rocky object
that orbits a star.
Ida

Comet
A relatively
small and icy
object that
orbits a star.

Solar(Star)System
A star or Stars in
a binary star
system and all
the material
that orbits it,
including its
planets and
moons and
minor planets
like asteroids
or comets.

Nebula

An interstellar cloud
of gas and/or dust

Galaxy
A great island of stars in space, all held
together by gravity and orbiting a
common center

M31,TheGreatGalaxy
inAndromeda

Universe
The sum total of all matter and energy;
that is, everything within and between
all galaxies

Howdidwecometobe?

Howcanweknowwhattheuniversewas
likeinthepast?
Lighttravelsatafinitespeed(300,000km/s).

Destination

Lighttraveltime

Moon

1.5second

Sun

8.3minutes

Sirius

8years

Thus,weseeobjectsastheywereinthepast:
Thefartherawaywelookindistance,
thefurtherbackwelookintime.

AndromedaGalaxy

2.2millionyears

Example:

We see the Orion

Nebula as it
looked 1,500
years ago.

M31,TheGreatGalaxy
inAndromeda

Example:
This photo shows the Andromeda Galaxy as it looked about
2.2 million years ago.
Question: When will be able to see what it looks like now?

M31,TheGreatGalaxy
inAndromeda

Lightyear
Thedistancelightcantravelinoneyear.
About10trillionkm(6trillionReagan
miles).

Atgreatdistances,weseeobjectsastheywere
whentheuniversewasmuchyounger.

Howfarisalightyear?
1 light year = (speedoflight) (1year)

km 365days 24hr 60min 60s

= 300,000

s 1yr
1day
1hr
1min

Howfarisalightyear?
1light year = (speedoflight) (1year)

km 365days 24hr 60min 60s

= 300,000

s 1yr
1day 1hr 1min
= 9,460,000,000,000km = 9.46 1012 km

Canweseetheentireuniverse?

ThoughtQuestion
Whycantweseeagalaxy15billionlightyears
away?
(Assumeuniverseis14billionyearsold.)

A. Becausenogalaxiesexistatsuchagreat
distance.
B. Galaxiesmayexistatthatdistance,buttheir
lightwouldbetoofaintforourtelescopestosee.
C. Becauselooking15billionlightyearsaway
meanslookingtoatimebeforetheuniverse
existed.

ThoughtQuestion
Whycantweseeagalaxy15billionlightyears
away?
(Assumeuniverseis14billionyearsold.)

A. Becausenogalaxiesexistatsuchagreat
distance.
B. Galaxiesmayexistatthatdistance,buttheir
lightwouldbetoofaintforourtelescopestosee.
C. Becauselooking15billionlightyearsaway
meanslookingtoatimebeforetheuniverse
existed.

Buttheuniverseisexpanding
ThereappearstobeaBigBang,abeginningofthe
universe.
Iftheuniverseisexpandingthenitisgettingbiggersowe
canseefurtherthanjusttheageoftheuniversetimesthe
speedoflight.
Thisisacommonmistakemadebyastronomersand
astrophysicistwhenthinkingcosmologically.Itworksfor
smallnoncosmologicaldistances.

Evenprofessionalsmake
mistakes,particularlyin
cosmology
Donotbeafraidtoquestion.Noteverythingyou
readeveninaverygoodsciencetextbooklikethe
onewehaveisright.
Notonlytypographicalmistakes,butthereare
mostlikelywillbeotherlogicalmistakes.
Thisisanexampleoflogicalmistake.
Iusetomakethismistake,too.ButIdont
anymore.

Horizontothebeginningofthe
BigBang,howfarcanyousee.

speedoflighttimesageoftheuniverse

1
1 3
2
c v 0 a j
2
3

Whathavewelearned?
Whatisourphysicalplaceintheuniverse?
EarthispartoftheSolarSystem,whichisthe
MilkyWaygalaxy,whichisamemberofthe
LocalGroupofgalaxiesintheLocal
Supercluster

Howdidwecometobe?
ThematterinourbodiescamefromtheBig
Bang,whichproducedhydrogenandhelium
AllotherelementswereconstructedfromH
andHeinstarandthenrecycledintonewstar
systems,includingoursolarsystem

Whathavewelearned?

Howcanweknowthattheuniversewaslikeinthe
past?
Whenwelooktogreatdistancesweareseeingevents
thathappenedlongagobecauselighttravelsatafinite
speed.
Whenwelooktosmalldistancesweareseeingeventthat
happenedonlyasmallagobecauselighttravelsatafinite
speed.

Canweseetheentireuniverse?
No,theobservableportionoftheuniverseisabout14
billionlightyearsinradiusbecausetheuniverseisabout
14billionyearsold.
No,theobservableportionoftheuniverseislargerthan
14billionlightyearsinradius,becausenotonlyisthe
universeabout14billionyearsold,butthereiscosmic
expansioninspace.Therateofexpansionisnotconstant
either.Firstitdeacceleratednowitisaccelerating.

1.2TheScaleoftheUniverse
Our goals for learning:

HowbigisEarthcomparedtooursolarsystem?
Howfarawayarethestars?
HowbigistheMilkyWayGalaxy?
Howbigistheuniverse?
Howdoourlifetimescomparetotheageofthe
universe?

HowbigisEarthcomparedtooursolar
system?
Letsreducethesizeofthesolarsystembyafactorof
10billion;theSunisnowthesizeofalargegrapefruit
(14cmdiameter).
HowbigisEarthonthisscale?
A.
B.
C.
D.

anatom
aballpoint
amarble
agolfball

Letsreducethesizeofthesolarsystembyafactorof
10billion;theSunisnowthesizeofalargegrapefruit
(14cmdiameter).
HowbigisEarthonthisscale?
A.
B.
C.
D.

anatom
aballpoint
amarble
agolfball

Thescaleofthesolarsystem
Ona1to10
billionscale:
Sunisthe
sizeofa
large
grapefruit
(14cm)
Earthisthe
sizeofa
ballpoint,
15meters
away.

Howfarawayarethestars?
Onour1to10billionscale,itsjustafewminutes
walktoPluto.
HowfarwouldyouhavetowalktoreachAlpha
Centauri?

A.
B.
C.
D.

1mile
10miles
100miles
thedistanceacrosstheU.S.(2500miles)

Answer:D,thedistanceacrosstheU.S.

HowbigistheMilkyWayGalaxy?
The Milky
Way has
about 100
billion stars.
On the same
ten billion-toone scale.

ThoughtQuestion

Supposeyoutriedtocountthemorethan100billion
starsinourgalaxy,atarateofonepersecond
Howlongwouldittakeyou?

A.
B.
C.
D.

afewweeks
afewmonths
afewyears
afewthousandyears

Supposeyoutriedtocountthemorethan100billion
starsinourgalaxy,atarateofonepersecond
Howlongwouldittakeyou?

A.
B.
C.
D.

afewweeks
afewmonths
afewyears
afewthousandyears

HowbigistheUniverse?
The Milky Way is one of about 100 billion galaxies.
1011 stars/galaxy x 1011 galaxies = 1022 stars

Asmanystarsasgrainsof(dry)sandonallEarthsbeaches

 NowletsstepthroughtheUniverseinpowersof10:

Howdoourlifetimescomparetotheage
oftheUniverse?
TheCosmicCalendar:ascaleonwhichwe
compressthehistoryoftheuniverseinto1year.

Howdoourlifetimescomparetotheage
oftheUniverse?
TheCosmicCalendar:ascaleonwhichwecompressthe
historyoftheuniverseinto1year.

Whathavewelearned?
HowbigisEarthcomparedtooursolarsystem?
Thedistancesbetweenplanetsarehugecomparedto
theirsizesonascaleof1to10billion,Earthisthe
sizeofaballpointandtheSunis15metersaway

Howfarawayarethestars?
Onthesamescale,thestarsarethousandsofkm
away

HowbigistheMilkyWaygalaxy?
Itwouldtakemorethan3,000yearstocountthestars
intheMilkyWayGalaxyatarateofonepersecond,
andtheyarespreadacross100,000lightyears

Whathavewelearned?
Howbigistheuniverse?
Theobservableuniverseis14billionlightyearsin
radius(noitisconsiderablybiggeranddependsupon
theexpansionrateandthehistoryoftheexpansion
ratewhichhaschanged)andcontainsover100billion
galaxieswithatotalnumberofstarscomparableto
thenumberofgrainsofsandonallofEarthsbeaches
Howdoourlifetimescomparetotheageofthe
universe?
Onacosmiccalendarthatcompressesthehistoryof
theUniverseintooneyear,humancivilizationisjust
afewsecondsold,andahumanlifetimeisafraction
ofasecond

1.3SpaceshipEarth
Our goals for learning:

HowisEarthmovinginoursolarsystem?
HowisoursolarsystemmovingintheGalaxy?
HowdogalaxiesmovewithintheUniverse?
Areweeversittingstill?

HowisEarthmovinginoursolarsystem?
Contrarytoourperception,wearenotsittingstill.
WearemovingwiththeEarthinseveralways,andat
surprisinglyfastspeeds
The Earth rotates
around its axis once
every day.

Earth orbits the Sun (revolves) once every year:

at an average distance of 1 AU 150 million km.
with Earths axis tilted by 23.5 (pointing to Polaris)
and rotating in the same direction it orbits, counterclockwise as viewed from above the North Pole.

Our Sun moves randomly relative to the other stars

in
the local
Solar
neighborhood
typical
relative
speeds
of more than 70,000 km/hr
but stars are so far away that we cannot easily notice
their motion

Andorbitsthegalaxyevery230millionyears.

MoredetailedstudyoftheMilkyWaysrotation
revealsoneofthegreatestmysteriesinastronomy:
MostofMilkyWays
lightcomesfromdisk
andbulge

.butmostofthe
massisinitshalo

Howdogalaxiesmovewithintheuniverse?
GalaxiesarecarriedalongwiththeexpansionoftheUniverse.
ButhowdidHubblefigureoutthattheuniverseisexpanding?

Hubblediscoveredthat:
AllgalaxiesoutsideourLocalGroupare
movingawayfromus.
Themoredistantthegalaxy,thefasteritis
racingaway.
Conclusion:Weliveinanexpandinguniverse.

Areweeversittingstill?
Earthrotatesonaxis:>1,000km/hr
EarthorbitsSun:>100,000km/hr
Solarsystemmovesamongstars:~70,000km/hr
MilkyWayrotates:~800,000km/hr
MilkyWaymoves
inLocalGroup
Universe
expands

Whathavewelearned?
HowisEarthmovinginoursolarsystem?
Itrotatesonitsaxisonceadayandorbitthe
Sunatadistanceof1A.U.=150millionkm
HowisoursolarsystemmovingintheMilky
Waygalaxy?
StarsintheLocalNeighborhoodmove
randomlyrelativetooneanotherandorbitthe
centeroftheMilkyWayinabout230million
years

Whathavewelearned?
Howdogalaxiesmovewithintheuniverse?
AllgalaxiesbeyondtheLocalGroupare
movingawayfromuswithexpansionofthe
Universe:themoredistanttheyare,thefaster
theyremoving
Areweeversittingstill?
No!

1.4TheHumanAdventureofAstronomy
Our goals for learning:
Howhasthestudyofastronomyaffectedhuman
history?

Howhasthestudyofastronomyaffected
humanhistory?
CopernicanRevolutionshowedthatEarthwasnotthe
centeroftheuniverse(Chapter3)
StudyofplanetarymotionledtoNewtonsLawsofmotion
andgravity(Chapter4)
Newtonslawslaidthefoundationoftheindustrial
revolution
Moderndiscoveriesarecontinuingtoexpandourcosmic
perspective

Whathavewelearned?
Howhasthestudyofastronomyaffected
humanhistory?
Throughouthistory,astronomyhas
providedanexpandedperspectiveon
Earththathasgrownhandinhandwith
socialandtechnologicaldevelopments

Whathavewelearned?
Howhasthestudyofastronomyaffectedhuman
history?
Throughouthistory,astronomyhasprovided
anexpandedperspectiveonEarththathas
grownhandinhandwithsocialand
technologicaldevelopments