UNIVERSITY OF ZENICA

Faculty of Philosophy
English Language and Literature Department

Contemporary English VII

WEEK 3: The Universe (Nerma Mehić and Anđela Radoš)

Summary

The universe contains everything that exists, from the tiniest subatomic particles to galactic
superclusters. The most widely accepted theory about the origin of the universe is the Big
Bang theory, which states that the universe came into being in a huge explosion—the Big
Bang—that took place between 10 and 20 billion years ago. Astronomers do not yet know if
the universe is “closed,” which means it will eventually stop expanding and begin to contract,
or if it is “open,” which means it will continue expanding forever.

A galaxy is a huge mass of stars, nebulae, and interstellar material. The smallest galaxies
contain about 100,000 stars, while the largest contain up to 3 trillion stars. There are three
main types of galaxy, classified according to their shape: elliptical, spiral, and irregular.

Spiral galaxies make up approximately 60% of galaxies in the universe. Most spiral galaxies
consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of
stars known as the bulge. They have arms spiraling outward from a central bulge.

Quasar is a highly luminous nucleus that produces power from massive black holes. They are
considered the most distant objects yet detected in the universe. Quasars give off enormous
amounts of energy. Even though they are very bright, we cannot see any quasars in the night
sky without using a telescope.

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, with the name describing the
galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars
that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.The Milky Way is a barred spiral
galaxy, about 100,000 light-years across. Like other spiral galaxies, ours has arms. The
central bulge is surrounded by four large spiral arms that wrap around it. We cannot see these
spirals because our Solar system is located in one of those arms, called the Orion Arm.
Around the disc there is the galactic halo containing more than 100 galactic clusters, a region
of the olderst stars in the galaxy.

A nebula is an enormous cloud of dust and gas occupying the space between stars. They are
made up of dust, helium and hydrogen. Some nebulae come from the gas and dust thrown out
by the explosion of a dying star, such as a supernova. Other nebulae are regions where new
stars are beginning to form.
Stars are bodies of hot, glowing gas that are born in nebulae. They vary enormously in size,
mass, and temperature. The principal groups are main sequence stars (those which are fusing
hydrogen to form helium), giants, supergiants, and white dwarfs.

For most of its active life, a star shines due to thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium
in its core. The fusion process leaves a core of helium surrounded by an envelope of
hydrogen. Stars spend about 90% of their existence fusing hydrogen. Such stars are said to be
on the main sequence, and are called dwarf stars. Over time, the proportion of helium in a
star's core will steadily increase, the rate of nuclear fusion at the core will slowly increase, as
will the star's temperature and luminosity. The expanding star is known as a red giant. It
becomes a white dwarf star that gradually cools and dims. When it finally stops shining
altogether, the dead star will become a black dwarf.

Black holes are characterized by their extremely strong gravity, which is so powerful that not
even light can escape. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny
space. There are four types of black holes: stellar, intermediate, supermassive, and miniature.
Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself, or
collapses.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius
A*.The boundary of the region from which no escape is possible is called the event horizon.
Once a particle crosses the event horizon, it cannot leave. Accretion disk is a disklike flow of
gas, plasma, dust, or particles around the hole as it goes inward. In the center of a black hole
is a gravitational singularity, a one-dimensional point which contains a huge mass in an
infinitely small space, where density and gravity become infinite and space-time curves
infinitely, and where the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate. Current theory
suggests that anything that ventures too close—be it star, planet, or spacecraft—will be
stretched in a process known as spaghettification.

The solar system consists of a central star and the bodies that orbit it. All eight planets have
almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic. Moons also spin as
they orbit their planets. The entire solar system orbits the center of our galaxy, the Milky
Way.

The Sun is the star located at the center of the solar system. It is about 5 billion years old and
astronomers believe it will continue to shine as it does now for another five billion years. The
Sun mostly consists of hydrogen and helium.

The photosphere is the visible surface of the Sun, which radiates light and heat. On the
photosphere we can often find sunspots. Sunspots are dark spots on the surface of the Sun and
they disappear after a few days or week.
Beyond the photosphere are chromosphere (inner atmosphere) and corona (outer atmosphere).
They are visible from the Earth during the total solar eclipse. During the total solar eclipse,
the Moon covers the entire Sun.

Flares and prominences are other examples of solar activity. A solar flare is a sudden flash of
increased brightness on the Sun. Prominences extend into the solar atmosphere in a loop
shape.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. It is the smallest planet of the solar system (only
40% bigger than the Moon). Mercury has very rocky surface which has also been heavily
cratered by meteorites. Craters are large, bowl-shaped depressions found in a surface. On
Mercury, the largest crater is the Caloris crater (1300 km across). Because Mercury rotates
about its axis very slowly, one solar day on Mercury lasts about 176 days. Temperatures on
this planet are extreme, ranging from a maximum of 430°C on the sunlit side to -270°C on the
dark side.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is rocky, and its internal structure consists of a
semisolid metal core, surrounded by a rocky mantle and crust. Venus is the brightest object in
the sky after the Sun and Moon. The main component of its atmosphere is carbon dioxide,
which traps heat in a greenhouse effect far stronger than that on Earth. Consequently, Venus
is the hottest planet (maximum surface temperature is about 480°C). It also has the most
acidic rains in the solar system due to the presence of sulfuric acid. Living on Venus would
imply very hostile environment due to the presence of volcanoes, acidic rains, and hot
temperatures.

The Earth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the largest and densest rocky planet. It is also
the only planet where you can find life. 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. The
Earth consists of four main layers: the inner core, the outer core, the mantle, and the crust.
The inner core has a temperature of about 6,600°C. The heat from this inner core causes
certain materials to circulate in convection currents, which are said to generate the Earth's
magnetic field. This field extends into the space as the magnetosphere. The Earth's
atmosphere screens out harmful radiation from the Sun, stops most meteoroids from reaching
the planet, and traps enough heat to prevent extremes of cold.

The Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite. Its surface is dry, barren, and covered in
craters. Some of the large craters have been filled by lava to from dark areas called maria or
seas.

Mars is also known as the red planet and it is the fourth planet in the Solar system. In the 19th
century, astronomers thought there was life on Mars because they observed dark patches on
the surface that were thought to be vegetation. Nowadays, we know these lines are just an
optical illusion and dark patches are actually areas where the red dust that covers most of the
planet has been blown away. Mars also has the largest volcano in the solar system and it is
called Olympus Mons.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. It is the largest and most massive planet. It is also
known for a system of rings known as the rings of Jupiter. Jupiter has a lot of zones and belts
in which there is turbulence that created the Great Red spot. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a
gigantic storm that's about twice as wide as Earth.

Saturn is the sixth planet in the solar system. This planet consists of a small core of rock and
ice and it is best known for its ring system. The main rings comprise thousands of narrow
ringlets.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest. This planet has blue-green
hue, due to methane, and it is also considered to be the coldest planet in the solar system (-
210°C measured at one point).

Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun and the smallest of the giant planets. It consists of
a small rocky core surrounded by a mixture of liquids and gases. Neptune has 6 tenuous rings
and 13 known moons. Triton is the largest Neptunian moon and the coldest object in the solar
system (-240°C). It is known for orbiting its mother planet in the opposite direction of the
planet's rotation.

Outside Neptune's orbit, we can find Kuiper Belt objects and dwarf planets. Kuiper Belt
objects are a mix of rock and ice. Pluto is a larger dwarf planet, and was considered a planet
until 2006, when dwarf planet category was introduced.

Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids

All these objects are debris remaining from the nebula (a cloud of gas or dust in space) from
which the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. Asteroids are rocky bodies which orbit
the Sun.

Comet is an icy, small body made of frozen water and dust. A coma develops around the
nucleus and from it the tail.

Meteoroids are small chunks of stone or stone and iron, which are fragments of asteroids or
comets. If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it becomes heated and appears as a
glowing streak of light called a meteor. Colloquially, meteors are also called shooting stars.
Meteor showers occur when the earth in its orbit around the Sun passes through debris left
over from the disintegration of comets.