UNIVERSE AND SOLAR SYSTEM

SUBMITTED BY: TAHIRA AMIR

ROLL NO: B21163006151

SUBJECT: SCIENCE

COURSE CODE: 400.1

DATE: 20-MARCH-2024

DEPARTMENT OF ISLAMIC LEARNING,UNIVERSITY of KARACHI

 Universe:

The word “universe” is derived from the Latin word “universum,” which was used by the

Romans to describe the globe and cosmos. The universe is a vast expanse of free space that

contains everything from the tiniest particle to the most massive galaxies. Scientists agree that

the Universe is roughly 13.79 billion years old as of 2015. The Universe is made up of a large

number of galaxies. The visible universe contains about 100 billion galaxies, according to optical

and radio telescope studies.

Formation And Structure Of Universe

The universe is all of space and time and their contents It comprises all of existence, any

fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of

energy and matter, and the structures they form, from sub-atomic particles to entire galaxies.

According to the prevailing cosmological theory of the Big Bang, emerged together 13 billion

years ago and the universe has been expanding ever since. Today the universe has expanded into

an age and size that is physically only in parts observable as the observable universe, which is

approximately 93 billion light-years in diameter at the present day, while the spatial size, if any,

of the entire universe is unknown.

Composition Of Universe:

A universe is made up of three types of substance that is dark matter , dark energy and bright

matter or normal matter. Other contents are electromagnetic radiation. Bright matter is what we

can see with our naked eye or with the help of telescope ,Objects such as planets, stars, and
 galaxies are some examples of bright matter and dark matter is material that cannot be seen

directly. A very large fraction of the Universe is made of dark matter. We know that dark matter

is exists around the bright object because of the effect it has on objects that we can observe

directly. We can measure its pull on other objects in the Universe. We just can’t see it.

Dark Energy (73%): Dark energy is a mysterious form of energy that is spread out uniformly

throughout space and which has anti-gravitational properties.

Dark Matter (23%): We can’t see matter since it doesn’t emit visible radiation, but it can be

detected gravitationally.

Hydrogen & Helium Gas (4%): Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in the

universe.

Stars (0.5%): A brightly shining ball made largely of hydrogen and helium gas. Our Sun is a

celestial body.

Neutrino (0.3%): A small particle that has no charge and is thought to have very little mass.

Neutrinos are created in energetic collisions between nuclear particles.

Heavy elements (0.03%): It includes planets.

 Origin of Universe .

Big bang theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it talks

about the universe as we know it starting with a small singularity then inflating over the next

13.7 billion years to cosmos that we know today. Garden instrument don’t allow a strong

numbers to peek back at the Universe’s birth, much of what we understand about the Big Bang

theory comes from the mathematical theory and models.

Big Bang Theory:

Big Bang till they believe that universe begin in the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago at that

time the entire universe was inside a bubble that thousands of times smaller than pinhead and it

was named as a singularity. It was hotter and denser than anything we can imagine. Then it

suddenly exploded the universe that we know was born. Time, space and matter all began with

the big bank and fraction of second the inverse group from a smaller than a single atom to bigger

than a galaxy and it keeps on growing at a fantastic rate it is still expanding today. As the

universe expanded and cooled , energy changed into particles of matter and antimatter. These

two opposite types of particles largely destroyed each other ,but some matter survived. More

stable particles called proton and neutron started to form when the universe was one second old

over the next 3 minute drop below 1 billion degrees Celsius it was now cool enough for the

proton and neutron to c temperature ome together forming hydrogen and helium nuclei. After

30,000 years the universe had cooled about 3,000 degree. Atomic nuclei could finally capture

electrons to form atoms the universe was filled with clouds of hydrogen and helium gas. These

clouds of dust and gases formed all celestial bodies afterwards.

Evidence For The Big Bang Theory.

By analyzing the spectrum of light from a star or galaxy, astronomers can tell how fast it is

moving and whether its moving towards or away from earth. If an object is moving away from

earth it’s light shift to longer, redder wavelengths, an effect known as “red shift”. If an object is

moving towards earth it’s light shift to shorter blue wavelengths, an effect is known as “blue

shift”. Red shift supports Big Bang theory. The light from distant galaxy is red shift and the

further away the galaxy the greater the red shift. A second piece of evidence that support the Big

Bang theory Is cosmic background microwave radiation. Amo penzias and Wilson detected a

cosmic microwave background radiation while studying radio signals. These radiation are

received from all parts of the universe and is thought to be the heat left over from the original

expansion or Big bang.

 Solar System

A solar system Consisting of the sun and other celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. The

eight planets and their 166 known moons, three dwarf planets ( Ceres, Pluto and Eris and their

four known moon), and billions of small bodies. This last category included asteroids, kuiper belt

objects, comets, meteoroids and interplanetary dust. The biggest planet in our solar system is

Jupiter. The sun is the center of our solar system and all other objects in the solar system orbit

the sun. Our solar system is elliptical in shape which means that it is shaped like an egg. The sun

is the biggest object in our solar system and contains more than 99% of the solar systems mass.

The rest is split between the planets and their satellites, the comets and asteroids, and the dust

and gas surrounding our star. Our solar system is 4.6 billion years old. The solar system has a

diameter more than 40 times greater than the distance to the sun, but the solar system is the

smallest or tiny part when it is compared with the size of a galaxy and the Universe.

Sun:

The Sun's gravity holds the solar system together, keeping everything

from the biggest planets to the smallest particles of debris in its orbit.

The connection and interactions between the Sun and Earth drive the

seasons, ocean currents, weather, climate, radiation belts and auroras.

Scientifically sun is divided in to three main regions 1-suns interior ,2-

the solar atmosphere and 3- visible surface of the sun. The sun’s

interior is divided into three main parts the core, the radiative

and the convective zone. The core is at the center. It is the hottest region where the nuclear
fusion reaction that power the sun occur. It has density of about 150 time the density of water.

Core is the only section of sun that produce heat through fusion and the temperature is 15 million

degree Celsius. The word radiative or radiation zone derived from the way energy is carried

outward through this layer, carried by photons as a thermal radiation. The radiative material is

hot and dense enough that thermal radiation transfer the intense heat of core outward. The third

part of the solar interior name the convective zone. It is also named after the dominant mode of

energy flow in this layer heat most through upward convection. The convection plasma is not

dense or hot enough to transfer the heat energy of the interior outward through radiation as a

result thermal convection occurs. The boundary between the sun’s Interior and the solar

atmosphere is called photosphere. It is what we see as the visible surface of the sun.

Planets:

Planet is the term used for a body in

orbit around the sun the word comes

from the Greek word planetes

which means “wanderers”. Planet is

a round body in space that orbits a

star and planet do not produced

light. All the eight planets are

revolving around the sun in a

clockwise direction and rotate

around their own axis in

anticlockwise direction. Our solar

system has eight planets that are

mercury, Venus Earth, Mars,

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto was considered a planet some years back now classified as a

dwarf planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the planets closest to the sun. They are called inner

planets and are mostly made up of rock therefore they are also called rocky or terrestrial planets. They are

very small as compared to the outer planets, therefore also know as inferior planets. Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus and Neptune are outer planets and are called Jovian planets because they are larger in size. Outer

planets are also known as gaseous planets because they have atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Planet

drive energy and heat from sun therefore we think the one near to the sun are hotter but Venus is the most

hottest planet instead of mercury. Earth is the most dense planet and Jupiter is also known as a body

guard planet of earth. As all the planets rotates west to east in direction but Venus is the only planet that

rotate east to west. Mercury is the smallest and fastest revolving planet and also known as dead planet.

Venus is the hottest and slowest rotating planet that’s also known as evening start.

Dwarf Planets: The international Astronomical union has defined a planet as a celestial body that is in

orbit around a star, but it’s not itself a satellite. It has sufficient mass so it is nearly spherical in shape and

has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. The

only difference between planets and the dwarf

planets is the area surrounding each celestial body.

A dwarf planet has not cleared the area around its

orbit, while a planet has. Dwarf planet could bot

do so because of small size and less gravitational

pull. There are five officially recognized dwarf

planets in our solar system. They are Ceres, Pluto,

Haumea, Makemake and Eris. With the exception

of Cere, whichuis located in the asteroid belt, the

other dwarf planets are found in the outer solar

system i.e Kuiper Belt. Pluto is considered to be a dwarf planet because objects in the Kuiper Belt are

within its orbit and it is unable to attract them .

Star:

Star is a massive shinning sphere of hot gas that shine’s by releasing light produced by nuclear fusion.

Different heavily object revolve around a star that are planets, Dwarf planets & Asteroids. Star’s have

very high temperature like sun has a surface temperature of 5500 to 6000 Celsius. The example of star are

Sun, Proxima centauri, Antares and Pistol Star.

Moon:

Moon is a natural satellite body in space that orbits and larger

body (planets). The larger body is referred to as the

satellite primary. Moon is a natural satellite that

revolve around the planets. Our moon named

“Luna” is the fifth largest moon in the solar

system it’s diameter is 3475 km and its mass

is 7.3×10²² kg (1/ 81 of Earth). It’s density is

3.347 g/cm³. The average distance of the moon

from the earth is 384,400 kilometer to (238,857)

miles The moon orbit the earth every 27 day and 7

hours. The effect of gravity on moon surface is 1/6 of

earth gravity the average surface temperature of the moon is 107 degree
Celsius during the day and -153°C. Moon has no atmosphere but negligible amount of inert gases. It takes

1.3 seconds to moonlight to reach the earth. Moon is one fourth the size of its mother planet i.e earth. The

mercury and venus have zero moon. Earth has it’s one moon and mars carries two moon. Jupiter has the

most moons that are almost 95. Saturn has 62 moons, Uranus has 27 moons and neptune has 13 moons.

Asteroids And Meteoroids.

Asteroids are the largest non-planetary and non lunar object

in the solar system. These objects are larger than 100 m in

the diameter and less than 1000 km in diameter. The largest

asteroids is Ceres with the diameter of 950 km. They are

generally irregular in shape and often have surface covered

with craters. These are also named as minor planet or

planetoids. Most of them orbit between the orbits of Mars

and Jupiter. A meteoroid is a small body traveling through

space. These bodies typically originate from comets and

asteroids. There is no well defined size range for a meteoroid. However we usually refer to a meteoroid as

s piece of matter which when it strikes the Earth’s atmosphere, produces the visual phenomenon called

meteor. A fragments that survive to hit the ground is known as

a meteorite.

Comet.

A Comet is a celestial body that orbits around the sun. It is

made up of a nucleus , a gaseous coma and a tail ( dust and

ionized gases). Its long tail of gas and dust always points away

from sun because of the force of the solar wind. The tail can

be up to 250 million km long. Comets are only visible when

they are near to sun in their highly eccentric orbits. When Comets are farthest from the sun they are

named dirty snowballs.

Constellation:

Constellation are group of stars visible within

a particular region of the night sky forming

various shapes and patterns. Constellation

have been named after the names of animal,

tools and object. Some constellation have been

named after the religious personalities and

scientist. Constellation can be viewed after

sunset and before sunrise. There are total 88

named constellation. The largest one is Hydra.

Other example include Ursa Major, Ursa

Minor, Canis Major and Canis Minor.

Galaxy:

A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust and

dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek word “galaxias” that means milky a

reference to the milky way. It is known as the Milky Way because it resembles a river of milky

light flowing from one corner of the sky to another. There are almost 100 to 200 billion galaxies

exist in the observable universe. Milky way and Andromeda are the example of galaxy. Galaxies
 rang in size from dwarfs. stars to giants with one hundred trillion star, each orbiting theory

galaxy’s own center of mass.

Types Of Galaxies:

Galaxies are categorized according to their visual morphology including elliptical , spiral and

irregular. Many galaxies are thought to have black hole at their active center. A black hole is a

massive object or region in space that is so dense that within a certain radius, its gravitational

field does not let anything escape from it not even light.

 Spiral Galaxies.

T first type of galaxies is spiral galaxies that can

be recognized by their wide, flat disks of

rotating gas and dust. These galaxies

resemble giant rotating pinwheels

with a pancake-like disk of stars and a

central bulge or tight concentration of

stars. Spiral galaxies are surrounded by

halos, mixtures of old stars, star clusters, and dark

matter .The youngest stars form in gas-rich arms, while older stars can be found throughout

the disk and within the bulge and halo. Both the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies

belong to a subtype known as barred spirals, which make up two-thirds of the group. The

Milky Way is about 100,000 light year in diameter. Sun takes roughly 250 million year to
orbit around Milky Way. Our solar system is about

30,000 light year away from the center of the milky

way galaxy. The region in space occupied by Milky

way is call Galactic plane. Nearest galaxy to the

milky way is Andromeda.

 Elliptical Galaxies:

Elliptical galaxies have shapes that range from completely round to oval. They are less

common than spiral galaxies. Elliptical galaxies usually contain little gas and dust and

show very little organization or structure. Scientists think elliptical galaxies originate

from collisions and mergers with spirals.

 Irregular Galaxies.

Irregular galaxies have unusual shapes, like toothpicks, rings, or even little groupings of

stars. They range from dwarf irregular galaxies with 100 million times the Sun’s mass to

large ones weighing 10 billion solar masses.

Irregular galaxies born from galaxy

interactions or collisions typically host a mix

of older and younger stars, depending on the

characteristics and composition of the

original galaxies.

 Peculiar Galaxies.

A peculiar galaxy is a galaxy of unusual size,

shape, or composition between five and ten

percent of known galaxies are categorized as peculiar. Astronomers have identified two

types of peculiar galaxies 1-interacting galaxies and 2-active galactic nuclei.

 References

1-“General Science and Ability” by Mian Shafiq.

2- Galaxy, Universe & Solar System | Overview & Differences – Lesson. By ( Divya M K,

Artem Cheprasov). [Link]

[Link],[Link]

4- Solar System, Galaxy, Universe: What’s the Difference?. Night Sky Network (.gov).

[Link] .

5-Universe and Solar System - Geography Notes by Amruta Patil. [Link]

universe-and-solar-system---geography-notes