The Universe

A Cheat Sheet for What's Beyond the Planet Earth

Space is awesome. And complex. And frankly, there’s a whole lot we still don’t know about it. Scientists
are constantly posing questions, putting forward mind-boggling new theories and discovering amazing
new things about space. So we’ve put together a little primer on space and what scientists are saying
about how it works. Enjoy. And remember, this is just a cheat sheet and we ’re talking about complicated
stuff. If something piques your interest, we’ve provided some links to learn more.
What Is the Universe, Really?

If we’re going to condense something, it’s best to know what we’re condensing. So, what is the
universe? In short, pretty much everything. It includes the entire space -time continuum: all matter,
energy, planets, stars and galaxies. The observable universe is an estimated 93 billion light-years in
diameter. And that’s just the observable universe. So, you know, big.

"When I look up at the night sky and I know that yes we are a part of this universe, we are in this
universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us...Many
people feel small cause they're small and the universe is big, but I feel big because my atoms came
from those stars. There's a level of connectivity."

— Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, Time magazine, 2012

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The Big Bang Theory (no, not the TV show)

According to the Big Bang Theory, the universe as we know it started about 14 billion years ago. One
moment the universe existed in a little point. And the next: boom. At a temperature of 10 billion
degrees Fahrenheit, there was no matter, only energy. At first this nascent universe was totally opaque.
After a while, though, as things began to cool, fundamental particles such as quarks and neutrinos began
to condense from the energy into matter. Eventually, as the universe expanded and cooled, protons ,
neutrons and electrons formed from the more fundamental particles. Free electrons and protons
created neutral hydrogen atoms, which allowed light to shine through. And as those elements started to
cool, the universe as we know it began to develop.
How in the world do we know this, not having been hanging around in space 14 billion years ago? Well,
we used to think the universe was fairly static, but in 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is
actually expanding at a rapid rate. Everything is moving away from a single point. From that discovery,
scientists have used mathematical models they can run backward in time to theorize that the entire
universe came from a single point - the BIG BANG. Of course, now we want to know what came before
the bang...

Read more:

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Earth: The Blue Planet

When we think of the universe, we usually think of what’s “out there,” but our very own planet Earth is
a part of the universe, too. And what better vantage point to look at the universe than right where we’re
standing.
Earth, the third planet from the sun, was formed 4.54 billion years ago, and has achieved the great
distinction of hosting life—which requires just the right combination of temperature, atmosphere and
water. As scientists look for other potential life in the universe, they concentrate their searches on
planets that are in the "goldilocks zone" - the right distance from their star to support liquid water,
which we assume is required for life - as we know it at least. For stars that are the same brightness as
our sun, that means a distance of approximately 150,000,000 km (93 million miles) , give or take a few
million. For smaller, colder stars, planets must be closer, and for hotter stars, farther away.

The Earth rotates every 24 hours, which gives us our days, as we are brought around to face the sun
each morning. The Earth also revolves around the sun in its year-long orbit. Because the Earth's axis is
tilted, as it moves around the sun we experience different seasons as hemispheres lean toward or away
from the Sun. 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21%
oxygen and 1% Argon and the rest other elements.

The planet weighs a whopping 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6 x 10^24) kil ograms. Its nickel-iron
core provides a powerful magnetic field, which in turn deflects solar winds that would harm life.
Read more:

http://space-facts.com/earth/

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/earth/
The Sun: Star Power

Sure, we all know how important stars are. Without our star the Sun, there wouldn’t be life on earth.
But what exactly is a star?

Well, basically, it’s gas collapsing in on itself.

Most of the matter in the universe is made of hydrogen (75%) and helium (23%), which hang around in
the form of clouds of molecular gas - some of "primordial", meaning it is left over from the Big Bang.
When a disturbance such as a shock wave from a nearby exploding supernova causes a gas cloud to
collapse, that’s when a star begins to form. This collapse causes the gas to heat up (and heat up and
heat up to 10 million K) until it turns to plasma - a form of matter where electrons have been stripped
from atoms and the nuclei are barely holding together. Finally, with the heat and pressure hydrogen
nuclei combine to form a helium nucleus—this is called nuclear fusion. It’s this fusion that defines a star.
But that process doesn’t happen overnight. It takes about 10,000,000 years for the cool interstellar gas
to become a star.

Stars come in a variety of sizes and colors. The cooler stars give off a reddish color while the warmer
ones give off a bluish color. This may seem counterintuitive, but think about the lights on your house.
Regular old orange-looking tungsten bulbs burn at about 2800 K while blue looking fluorescent bulbs
burn at around 5600 K (much hotter). And the light from the sun outside? That’s around 7000 K here on
earth.

Smaller red stars called red dwarfs use less energy but burn much longer (up to 10 trillion years). The
biggest stars that use the most energy, the blue supergiants, die out much faster (in only a few million
years).

Our star, the sun, is a yellow dwarf because its radiation is strongest in the yellow-green spectrum.
Although not particularly large as far as stars go (with a diameter of approximately 1,392,684 km), it is
thought to be brighter than 85% of the stars in the universe. The sun is middle aged - it has about 5
billion years to go.

Read more:

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http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/what-is-a-star/
Our Solar System

Our solar system is made up of the sun and everything that orbits it—that includes eight planets, several
dwarf planets (poor Pluto), the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) and lots of small solar system
bodies such as comets.

The four planets closest to the Sun—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—are known as terrestrial planets
because their surfaces are solid and composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are the gas
giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The first two gas giants are made up of mostly hydrogen
and helium while the outermost planets are composed of mostly of water, ammonia and methane. Pluto,
which used to be known as the ninth planet, was downgraded to a “dwarf planet” in 2006.
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Galaxies Near and Far, Far Away

Galaxies are huge clusters of gas, particles and stars. We aren’t certain how many are out there, but in
just the observable universe, scientists believe there are about 100 billion. And in each of these galaxies
are billions of stars and accompanying solar systems.

There are three shapes of galaxies: spiral, elliptical and irregular.

Our very own Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. It’s shaped like a flat disk with spiraling arms and a more
bulbous center, where many of the oldest stars reside. All of the dust, stars and planets revolve around
this center, which exudes the gravitational force that keeps that galaxy together. Spiral galaxies spin
around their center at hundreds of kilometers per second.

Elliptical Galaxies

These roundish galaxies are sometimes nearly circular or can be more elongated. These galaxies do have
a center, but their stars tend to move more randomly than in spiral galaxies.
Irregular Galaxies

Lots of galaxies are not spiral or elliptical. Instead, they take on irregular patterns, often due to
gravitational influences of other nearby galaxies. These funky galaxies are called irregular galaxies.

Read more:

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Our Beautiful Milky Way

The planet Earth resides in the Milky Way galaxy, a spiral-shaped galaxy with more than 100 billion stars.
It’s called the Milky Way because of the milky appearance that the thickest band of stars has when you
look up in the sky from planet Earth. What that milky-looking stuff is is the center of our galaxy. And in
the very center of the center of our galaxy, there is a supermassive black hole called Sagitarrius A.

Our sun and solar system is in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way’s spiral, about two-thirds of the way, or
26,000 light-years, from the center of the galaxy. The nearest neighboring spiral galaxy is Andromeda,
which is actually moving toward the Milky Way at about 110 kilometers per second. But don’t worry, the
collision isn’t likely to happen for another four billion years.

Read more:

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http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galaxy.html
Binary Stars and Multiple Star Systems

When we look up in the night sky and see a star, chances are we ’re actually seeing not a single star, but
two or even more stars. More than four-fifths of all stars are either binary stars—which orbit each
other—or several stars that orbit each other, creating a multiple-star system.

With binary stars, the larger of the two stars is considered to be the primary star. These two stars can
have wide or close orbits. Those with wide orbits have little effect on one another, while those with
close orbits can actually feed on each other (consuming material from their companion) and exude
gravitational force on each other. In some cases, the larger of the two stars can pull the smaller one in
completely.

Read more:

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Black Holes Big and Small
We can’t actually see black holes. Their gravitational force is so strong that it pulls in light and won ’t let
it escape. So how do we know black holes exist? Scientists observe the areas around black holes. By
watching planets and stars that surround these areas, scientists can witness the gravitational force of
the black holes.

Black holes vary in size from smaller than an atom (with the mass of a large mountain) to one million
times the mass of the sun.

There are two classifications of black holes: stellar and supermassive.

Supermassive black holes are found at the center of every large galaxy. They are, as the name suggests,
enormous. Our own galaxy’s black hole (Sagitarrius A) has a mass equal to about four million suns. These
black holes are created when giant stars collapse in on themselves.

Stellar black holes can be tiny—the size of an atom—but their mass is far greater. Typically, stellar black
holes have a mass that’s 20 times greater than the sun. While the Milky Way has only one supermassive
black hole, it has many stellar black holes.

Read more:
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That Mysterious Dark Matter and Dark Energy

We’ve established that the universe is expanding. But as scientists observed this expansion, it didn ’t
seem to be operating according to standard physics. The funny thing is, scientists observed, rather than
slowing down (which is what normally happens when you have gravity working on mass), the universe ’s
expansion is actually accelerating.

Using the Hubble Telescope to view a distant supernova, scientists observed in 1998 that the universe
was once accelerating at a slower rate than it is today. This made no sense to scientists. And, truthfully,
there’s a lot they still don’t know.

Scientists came up with the theory of dark energy to explain the accelerated expansion. Basically, it
surmises that there is another mysterious energy at work on the universe: so-called dark energy. So,
then, what is dark matter? It’s the stuff that scientists know must be out there, but is not observable.
And although we don’t know a whole lot about dark energy and matter (though there are several
different working theories), we do know that they compose a large part of the universe. Scientists
believe that 68% of the universe is dark energy, 27% is dark matter and only 5% is what we currently can
observe. Yep, you read right: only 5%.

Read more:

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The Exploration Continues
Roving on Mars

In 2003, NASA launched two robot explorers—rovers Spirit and Opportunity—which successfully landed
on Mars in January 2004. Each equipped with a panoramic camera, thermal emissions spectrometer and
a host of other sophisticated instruments, the rovers search for and analyze rocks and soil that may hold
information about past water on the planet. Although Spirit has been silent since 2012, Opportunity
continues to send scientists valuable data almost a decade later.

Read more:

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Coolest Party Ever: The International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint effort between the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada
and Europe. This habitable artificial satellite, complete with a laboratory, is the most politically complex
space endeavor ever embarked upon. It is also the largest man-made object orbiting the planet. It orbits
330 kilometers above Earth and travels 7.71 kilometers per second.

The first module of the station was sent up in 1998, and it was first inhabited in November 2000 by the
crew members of Expedition 1. Since then, 40 more expeditions have been sent to live in the station.
The purpose of the station is to conduct research, encourage cooperation and promote education. It has
been continuously occupied for 14 years, the longest human presence ever in space.
Read more:

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tional_Space_Station

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Going Commercial with Space Exploration

Space exploration is costly and challenging. To help defer costs and encourage innovation, NASA has
begun working with the private sector to develop space exploration systems. Space X and Virgin Galactic
are at the forefront of non-governmental research and development.

Space X was founded in 2002. In 2010, it became the only private company to return a spacecraft from
low-Earth orbit. In 2012 it brought cargo to the International Space Station, a feat it has repeated
numerous times.

Virgin Galactic is developing a craft that it hopes will be used for space tourism in the future. Although it
has been testing crafts (SpaceShip One and SpaceShip Two), it is still working toward this goal.

Read more:

Spacex.com

Virgingalactic.com
 PHOTO CREDITS

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