Planets reflect
sunlight and orbit
the sun in ellipses.
A galaxy is a
collection of stars.
We live in the
Milky way galaxy.
One light year =
9.5x10 to the 12 km
Is anyone out there?
SETI
Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
Looking for narrow bands
of radio waves coming to
earth in all the "noise"
'Noise' come from stars.
Robots and probes
Collect data
and samples
Scientists
still have to
work out
what it
means.
Looking into space
3 main problems
telescopes face:
Atmosphere
absorbs a lot
of light from
distant
planets
Corrections put the
telescope in space.
Light pollution, light
thrown up into the
sky makes it hard to
pick out dim objects
Correction place on top of a
mountain away from city light.
Air pollution dust
particles can absorb
and reflect light.
Correction place on
top of a mountain less
atmosphere above.
X-ray telescopes
see violent high
temperature events.
Radio
telescope
Discovered cosmic
microwave
background radiation.
Spectrometers
Used to analyse the light
given out by a star.
The light spectra from
stars contain bright
lines and black lines
Black line are
where the the
light at those
wavelengths are
being absorbed.
Bright lines are extra
light being emitted at
those wavelengths.
Making a simple one: box a cd and
light
Life cycle of a star
Nebula (dust and
gas)-Main sequence star
(the nebula spirals in
together, temperature
rises, hydrogen nuclei
undos thermo nuclear
fusion to form helium
nuclei stable for several
billions of years)-Red giant
(Hydrogen running out
the surface cools)
Supernova (undergo more fusion
creating heavier elements)-Neutron
star (Very denser core or a black hole.
(dense enough collapses in on its self)
Origins of the universe
Red shift
When a source moves towards a person the
observed wavelength decreases and the
frequency increases. However if a object is
moving away from the person the wavelength
is higher and the frequency is lower. When you
observe distant galaxys they tend to shift
toward the red end meaning there moving.
Microwave
background
radiation
Low
frequency
radiation
As the universe
expands and
cools this
background
radiation "cools"
and drops in
frequency
Big bang
theory
matter
compressed
massive
explosion.
Creating a
expansion
which is still
going on. 14
billion years
ago.
Steady state theory says the
universe has aways been around.