CrashCourse Astronomy

(Phil Plait)
Naked-eye observations

• Stars can seem bright because they’re closer to us and/or more luminous per se
• Magnitudes: ranking of stars by brightness
o 1st magnitude: brightest … to:
▪ 6th magnitude: dimmest by naked eye
▪ 31st magnitude: dimmest by Hubble
• Brightest star, to us, is Sirius
• Stars can be different colours
• 88 official constellations
• Within each constellation, stars classified according to brightness, via Greek letters
o Alpha (brightest) etc. – e.g. “alpha Orion” is brightest star in Orion constellation
o Use numbers, now: never run out after omega…
• Light pollution: urban settings light up sky => harder to make astronomical observations
o Observatories built in remote high areas => better view
o Also disrupts fauna’s circadian rhythms
o Need to direct light downwards to ground, etc.
▪ Int’l Dark-Sky Ass’n, GLOBE at Night, World at Night, etc.
• Star twinkling <= wind blows overhead us, distorts incoming starlight
o Planets in our solar system are closer to us, appear bigger=> not as distorted
• 5 planets seen naked-eye: Venus > Jupiter, Mars > Mercury, Saturn
• Photographic time exposures => longer star paths seen around equator, smaller around poles
o Polaris: stays at north pole; offset slightly off centre => makes tiny circle
o Stars at equator would appear to make 1 full circle per day => smaller circles towards poles

Circles in the sky

• Earth orbing sun => we see different constellations throughout the year
o Stars seem to rise and set => with “midday” being opposite, with sun in between
• Ecliptic: earth’s path around sun

A sine wave, as I’d predicted in Year 11! :D

• Zodiac: constellations sun passes through, per year

© Devahuti C.
 o Each month => one constellation/sign seen
• All 8 planets in one plane, in our solar system
o “Planet” = “wanderer” (Greek)
• Earth’s 23.5o tilt => seasons
o Each hemisphere tilted towards (summer) or away (winter) from sun, in 6-month cycles
o Precession: earth’s axis gradually moving => season timings will change, north star will change, etc.
▪ Axis wobbles – circle completes every 26 000 years
• Ancient Egyptians: Thuban was pole star
• 11 000 years later: Vega will be pole star
▪ Zodiac dates will change (astrology is silly! :P)
• Ancients: sun in Ares on Mar 22 (vernal equinox)
• Now: sun in Pisces on Mar 22 (vernal equinox)

Moon phases

• Terminator: line dividing day from night side of moon (as seen from earth)
• Month = 29.5 days for moon to orbit earth

o New moon: moon’s orbit tipped slightly towards earth => can see sliver (terminator curved)
o Moon visible during day just as often, just difficult to see when next to sun
o We see same half of moon, all the time
• Perspective of earth from moon => earth phases are opposite to moon phases
o Earthshine: faint rest of moon is seen because earth is reflective
▪ “Old moon in the new moon’s arms” – unlit part surrounded by crescent new moon horns

Eclipses

• Eclipse: one object passing into shadow of another

o Solar: moon in between earth and sun => casts shadow on earth
o Lunar: earth in between moon and sun => casts shadow on moon
• Solar eclipse
o Moon’s orbit is tilted 50 to earth’s => at new moon, moon can be max. 50 away from sun => misses it
▪ When at 00 tilted away from sun, perfectly in line => new moon gives solar eclipse (2-5 times a year)
• Moon’s long shadow no longer missing earth

© Devahuti C.
o “Umbra” = “shadow”; “pen-” = “near-” (Latin)
o At umbra, sun totally blocked; at penumbra, sun partially blocked
o Corona: sun’s gas envelope – becomes visible at total solar eclipse (no longer outshone by sun’s light)
o Baily’s Beads: moon’s edge has craters => sunlight streams past => bright patches around eclipsed sun
o Totality: eclipse lasts up to 7-8 mins., then => diamond-ring effect
o Moon’s orbit is elliptical => annular eclipse
o If solar eclipse when moon farthest, moon appears smaller than sun => leaves annulus around moon
o Eyesight precaution
o Just after totality, pupils still dilated => sudden flash damages retina
o Need eye protection with safety-approved filters, throughout viewing of solar eclipse
▪ Too much IR and UV light can dilate pupils, exacerbating damage
• Lunar eclipse
o No eye protection req’d when looking at moon (sun behind)
o When earth casts shadow on moon, anyone on earth can see lunar eclipse
▪ Unlike solar, where umbra localised on earth

o Red moon
o Earth starting to block sunlight heading towards moon => only light coming through thickest
earth atmosphere => blocks blue and green light (red’s long wavelength gets through)
o Sun rising and setting => only red wavelength comes through => red sun
o Lunar eclipse lasts ~2 hours, as earth much bigger than moon => blocks moon off from sun for ages

o Earth never casts thin shadow (light angle), always thick => earth must be spherical
• Due to earth’s tides, moon moving away from earth at 4cm/yr. => appearing smaller => eventually won’t cover sun
anymore (from earth’s perspective) => no more total eclipses (billion years from now)
© Devahuti C.
 Telescopes

• Galileo did not invent the telescope (+ I said a circle has infinite sides, independently of him, too :P)
• Telescope: light-gathering device with multiple lenses (objective) which refract all the light into eye
o A = 𝞹r2 => e.g. increasing radius by 2 increments = increasing light area by 4 increments
• Refraction
o Image inverted: top-bottom, right-left (rays focused in those directions)
o Image magnified: resolution is ability to separate two visible points (objective size)
▪ Magnifying image beyond resolution capacity of device => re-mushing (e.g. microscope focusing)
o Issues:
▪ Refractive lens hard to make: thin edges break easily
▪ Different wavelengths refracted differently, so need to focus colours individually

• Solution: use curved mirrors to bring these colours to a focus

o Reflectors: telescopes using mirrors (some even use only mirrors, no lenses)
o Only one side needs polishing
o Mirrors manufactured more efficiently than lenses can be
▪ Different telescopes for different purposes
Telescope type Purpose Reason Downside
Refractor Detail on moon and planets Magnify image more than reflectors do Flip image horizontally and vertically
Bigger Fainter objects Greater magnification and resolution More expensive, hard to setup and use
▪ Telescopes can capture either side of visible spectrum, too

o Giant metal dishes, formed as reflective telescopes, bend radio waves

▪ Normally, longer wavelengths pass around telescope (e.g. radio waves), shorter wavelengths pass
through them (e.g. gamma rays)
▪ Unconventional telescopes can detect subatomic particles (neutrinos, cosmic rays)
▪ Human eyes take 14 images/sec, but cameras take longer exposures => light accumulates => shows us fainter objects
o Giant telescopes with giant cameras => distant galaxies => evidence of universe expanding
o Larger, more sensitive digital detectors => speed up such detailed image capture, link to computers to directly
analyse data (e.g. asteroids, comets – moving objects over time)
▪ Remote astronomy
© Devahuti C.
 o Telescope on distant mountain, programmed to scan sky automatically at regular intervals
o Launching telescope into space gets rid of problem of earthly atmosphere disrupting image capture
o Install telescopes on probes to visit celestial objects, return data from there as well as after coming back
o Hubble Space Telescope orbits around earth, taking pictures of vast deep space

Gravity

• M = dv and F = ma

Swap GPE for KE, closer to ground (longer gravity acts)

• More force => more elliptical orbit (enough force => escapes in tangent)

• Parabola: escape “orbit”; hyperbola: escapes infinitely

• Weight <= normal force of ground (reaction force (N3L) pushing back on you)
o Microgravity: freefalling, no weight
• Strangely, though protons have no mass, affected by gravity! (Object bends light’s path – or space’s fabric)

Tides

• Tidal force: change of gravitational force over distance from initial object’s centre of mass => stretches affected object
o Moon’s gravitational effect on earth:

Left bulge is due to earth’s centre of mass being pulled towards the moon => water bulges this way
© Devahuti C.
 • Earth spinning => from one spot on earth, get 2 high tides and 2 low tides a day
o Sea levels rise and fall by 1 or 2 m, every 6 hours
o Earth’s crust bulges slightly: ~30 cm, every 6 hours
• Water lag => earth’s spin sweeps bulges forward, tugging moon slightly => moon travels farther away from earth
o Moon pulls bulge back slowing it down => friction with earth => slows earth down
• Moon affected by earth’s massive gravity => tidal bulges on moon => moon getting farther away and spinning slower
o Tidal locking: moon bulges’ axis pointed towards earth => moon shows only one face to us, all the time
▪ Tides from home planets gradually matched moons’ spins and orbital periods, in any solar system
• Sun tides
o Sun’s tidal force on earth is half that of moon’s (bigger, but much farther away)
o New and full moons => spring tide:

Earth, moon, sun are in line => moon’s and sun’s tidal forces align and mutually reinforce => high high tide, low low tide

o First- and third-quarter moons => neap tide:

Moon’s high tide overlaps sun’s low tide => slightly lower high tide, slightly higher low tide

• Moon’s elliptical orbit => stronger effect when closer to us, weaker when farther away
o Proxigean tide: new/full moon => stronger/weaker spring tides
▪ Stronger spring tides => flooding in lowlands
▪ Weaker spring tides => droughts in highlands?

Solar system

• Sun comprises 98% mass (“sol-ar”), planets etc. 2% orbiting around it

• Geocentric gave way to heliocentric model (now confirmed), with elliptical planetary orbits explaining observations
o Paved way for Leibniz-Newton calculus to influence Newtonian model of gravity
• No standard definition of planet, no smallest planet (Jupiter remains biggest)
o No standard definition of continent, either
o Me: all aligned in one flat disc orbiting around sun => “planet” (“wanderer”)
• Inner planets – Mercury, Venus, earth, Mars – small and rocky
• Outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune – big and gaseous
• Asteroid belt: billions of rocks b/w Mars and Jupiter
• Kuiper belt: rocky ice balls beyond Neptune (tend to follow planets’ plane) => merges into Oort cloud: ice balls
• SS embryology
o 4.6 billion ya, free-floating cloud balanced b/w gravity pulling in and heat expanding out
o Elusive trigger => cloud compressed => gravity advantaged
o Angular momentum (spin) => SS flattened into disc
▪ Smaller objects => faster rotations
© Devahuti C.
 o Material falling into centre => dense hot protostar => H fused into He => sun
o Farther out, cooler => material clumped together, accumulated gravity => bigger planetesimals
o Sun blew away leftover material not formed into planets
o Inner planets too hot, couldn’t hold on to H and He radiated by sun; outer planets cool enough => thick
atmospheres => gas giants
o Smaller icy objects formed past Neptune; material b/w Mars and Jupiter didn’t have enough gravity to
aggregate
▪ Jupiter’s gravity agitated material => impacts tended to break them up

Sun

• On the bigger side of the stars in the universe, hot ball of mostly H gas
• Hellish pressure and temp’C in centre => H+ ions with respective protons fused => He

=> E = mc2 released => sun powers itself

• At convective zone, radiated heat not enough to fuse Hs together to form He
o Farther from centre, gas less dense => rising heat makes overlying gas buoyant => convection (heat rises)
o Gas cools, sinks back into interior (tops of these columns visible)
• At photosphere, density thin enough to become transparent => light energy can travel through and into space
• At corona, hotter but much less dense, merges into solar wind: subatomic particles streaming away from sun
o Immense wind speeds; can only be seen during eclipses (otherwise, overshadowed by sun’s brightness)
• Nuclear fusion => light, then absorbed by subatomic particle => some energy converted to kinetic
o Eventually, energy gets to surface as lower-energy photon of visible light (takes 100-200 000 yrs)
▪ Today’s light seen, originated at time of first Homo sapiens on earth, at sun’s core!
• Magnetism
o Atoms ionised => plasma: gaseous soup of ions – moving charges, so => magnetic field
o Convection + sun’s rotation => plasma streams inside sun, each with own magnetic field
o When plasma and fields reach sun’s surface, they cool – but if tangled, fields can’t drop back into sun
▪ Sunspot: dimmed bit of magnetic plasma
▪ Magnetic fields concentrated around edges of sunspots => further energise/heat plasma => faculae
(“little torches”) => increase sun’s energy output
o Plasma flows along these magnetic loops => prominences/filaments
© Devahuti C.
 ▪ Feeding energy from sun’s surface into corona
o Energetic magnetic fields can snap => energy explodes outwards => solar flare
▪ Coronal mass ejection (CME): solar flares higher off the sun’s surface (in corona)
▪ Debris hits earth
• Atmosphere absorbs high-energy light, earth’s magnetic field deflects subatomic particles
• Sometimes, earth’s magnetic field interacts with subatomic particles => funnel down to
earth’s poles => air glows – aurorae: northern and southern lights
o Pattern dictated by shape of magnetic field interacting
▪ Magnetic fields interact => strong electrical currents in earth’s crust => overload power grids => cause
blackouts, jeopardise satellite electronics

Earth

• Unlike other 3 terrestrial planets, earth has water => life

o Inner core: temp’C reaches up to 5500’C, but high enough press’re for Fe to stay solid
o Outer core: hot, but press’re lower => Fe is liquid
o Mantle: molten solid, flows over millions of years (e.g. UQ pitch-drop experiment)
o Crust: thin solid layer, floating on mantle
▪ Oceanic crust: 5 km thick,
▪ Continental crust: 30-50 km thick
• Core heats mantle above => convection currents make mantle flow up => crust’s tectonic plates slide
o Slow movements => continental drift over millions of years
o Quick movements => earthquakes?
• At tectonic plate edges, crust weaker => mantle’s magma pushes up through crust => volcanoes
o Other volcanoes <= plume of hot material punching up out of the middle of a plate, even
o Plate moves => hot spot at edge forms linear volcano chain over millions yrs

▪ Volcanoes => new land, gases out onto earth’s surface

• Earth’s core heat <= leftover from earth’s formation
o Collisions, forming proto-earth, heated rocks etc. up
o Earth grew in size => heat built up, contracted with own gravity => more press’re = more heat
o U radioactively decays => adds more heat
o Fe and Ni sink to core => friction increases heat
• Outer core is liquid metal => conducts and convects electricity => magnetic fields
o Earth’s rotation => magnetic fields into cylinder aligning with earth’s axis => magnetic north and south poles
o Magnetic loops around earth deflect most, and trap some, charged particles from solar wind
▪ Mars has no strong magnetic field => solar wind eroded atmosphere away
• Earth’s atmosphere
o Karman line: arbitrary line b/w earth’s atmosphere and space, 100 km from crust
o Partial gas volumes: 78% N, 21% O, 1% Ar
o Water vapour below 8-15 km above crust, warmest at bottom => convection currents of rising air => clouds
© Devahuti C.
 o 25 km above crust, ozone: O3 – absorbs UV light from sun => protective
• Earth’s magnetic field channels some solar wind particles into atmosphere => collide with air molecules => energises
molecules => N emits red and blue, O emits red and green => polar aurorae
• Earth’s 70% water flows down from higher continental to lower oceanic crust => water bodies
o Water from earth formation, asteroid and comet impacts
• Trace gases in atmosphere
o 0.04% CO2 in lower atmosphere
▪ Sunlight hits ground => emits IR light => CO2 traps heat => greenhouse effect (keeps water liquid)
▪ Excess CO2 => global warming => climate crisis (industrial rev’n => carbon emissions skyrocketed)
▪ Global warming => melting pole ice, acidifying oceans
• Terraformation: making another planet earth-like, thereby human-habitable

Moon

• Greatest satellite:planet size ratio in SS; 5th largest moon in SS

• Moon illusion: looks twice as big on horizon

o Human brain compensates for distance = horizon, by assuming moon is bigger

• Moon structure

o Inner core is less hot than earth’s core; upper mantle is solid (=> no moonquakes?)
o Near side of moon
o “Maria” = “seas” (Latin)
▪ Younger than highlands, fewer craters
▪ Darker basaltic (igneous) material <= lava from older areas
o Craters <= asteroid and comet impacts (nearly since moon’s beginning)
o Far side of moon
o Almost no maria, thicker crust
o Giant-impact hypothesis:
o More objects, of varied size, orbiting sun at formation of SS => many collisions
o Later on, Mars-sized planet Theia grazed earth => blasted huge amount of material into space
▪ Most from outer layers of earth
▪ Some from Theia (exotic O isotopes)
o Expulsed material coalesced into moon (own gravity)
© Devahuti C.
 o Tidal waves synchronised moon’s orbital period => one face always towards earth
o Close collision melted both earth and moon => earth heated near side, far side of moon cooler
▪ Near side’s contents vaporised, far side’s condensed => thicker far-side crust
▪ Late heavy bombardment: comets from outer SS => cratering
 Near side: lava bubbled up through surface cracks => flooded craters => more maria
 Far side: thicker crust => lava couldn’t bubble up and break through => less maria
• Different crater types
o Small bowls to wide nadirs
o Central peak <= impact material splashed back up in middle
o Binary asteroids => double craters
o Crater chains <= nearby large impact splashed out long streamers of material
o Rays from big craters <= long splash marks radiating out from impact, plumes of material ejected (e.g. Tycho)
▪ More reflective material => bright against background
o Dry river beds <= ancient lava flows
o Lava tubes: tops cooled, lava flowing underneath
▪ Roof can collapse => skylight (peek into tunnel)
o Cliffs, mounds, long-dead volcanoes … mountain chains etc.
o Giant impacts => mountain edges (pushed-up rim)
• Water on moon
o Deep craters’ floors => collect comet-distributed water as ice (no sunlight to melt and dry it)

Mercury

• Closer to sun’s gravity => faster orbital => “mercurial” (Mercury – Roman god, fleet of foot)
o Year = 59 earth days
o Fast orbit => colliding objects are fast, too => harder collisions => larger craters
• We see its phases similar to moon; dark side when between us and sun, light side when on ~other side of sun
o Third size of earth
o Illuminated by sun => even bright on earth’s horizon
• Most elliptical orbit => closest gives it twice as much sun heat as when farthest
o Perihelion: closest to sun => faster spin => sun stops midway, goes back for few days, then east to west again
o Aphelion: farthest from sun => slower spin => sun moves east to west

o When Mercury formed, sun tides slowed rotation => Mercury’s spin eventually slowed to 2/3 of orbital period
o One perihelion: one side faces sun
o 88 days later, reaches perihelion after 1.5 spins => other side facing sun
o So day = 2 x year (176 days)!
• Mercury’s exterior
o No atmosphere => completely covered in craters (past collisions)
o Caloris basin: largest crater, 1600km diameter
o Rupes: compression folds on older smoother plains
▪ After Mercury’s innards cooled after forming, planet shrank => crust cracked with shrinkage
o Crater ray systems: impacts flung out long plumes of material
o Craters named after earthly artistes (Botticelli, Chekov, Degas, Vivaldi, Tolkien etc.)
• Mercury’s interior
o Large Fe(l) core
▪ <= formed first as larger planet, then grazing impact blew away lighter materials on surface
▪ <= sun’s heat vaporised lighter materials risen to surface
• Magnetic field (despite slow spin) <= huge molten Fe core
o Trace of atmosphere <= magnetic field trapping solar wind, material flung up after impacts
o Much material escapes planet and blown away by solar wind and sunlight pressure => comet-like tail
▪ Tail has Na, Ca, Mg – abundant surface material
© Devahuti C.
 • Despite diabolically high temperatures, ice on Mercury!
o Cold traps: deep craters near poles, where sunlight never reaches
o Water likely leftover from impacting comets/asteroids

Venus

• Like the Roman goddess Venus, the planet is beautiful and terrible
• 3rd brightest SS object, after sun and moon
• Phases: full on ~other side of sun, looming larger as comes around closer to earth, appearing smaller with distance
o So close, appears brighter than even when full on other side of sun
• Transit of Venus: passing directly across sun’s face (from earth’s POV)
o Solar eclipse: Venus blocks 0.1% sun => tiny black circle
o Alignment happens in pairs separated by 8 years, then recur >century later
• Venus exterior
o Thick white cloud layer, reflecting almost all sunlight
o Earth’s evil/tempestuous twin
▪ Hot enough to melt Pb
▪ Air almost entirely CO2
▪ Huge atmospheric press’re
▪ Rains sulphuric acid, evaporates before hitting ground
o Runaway greenhouse effect: sun grew, got hotter, evaporated water => water vapour, water/rock CO2 released
into atmosphere – both heated and thickened atmosphere
o No magnetic field => no protection from solar wind => lighter elements and water stripped off atmosphere => SO2
leftover => high white reflective sulphuric-acid clouds
o Venus hotter than Mercury – but mountaintops may have shiny snow
o Bismuthinite and galena vaporised at lower grounds, circulate upwards to deposit on cool mountain tops
• Slow clockwise rotation: 1 day = 243 earth days
o So no magnetic field
o Day longer than year
o Most spherical planet: slow rotation => doesn’t bulge out at equator from centripetal’s normal force
• Retrograde motion: spins backwards (clockwise), north and south poles reversed
▪ Giant collision => skidded spin to halt?
▪ Sun rises in west, sets in east
• Thick atmosphere => atmosphere only as bright as twilight, uniform surface temp’C
• No tectonic activity: Venus lost water long ago, to be able to drive that
• Craters equally sized and distributed, similar erosion patterns = similar ages => Venus must’ve been repaved suddenly
o 167 huge volcanoes => over time, could pump out enough lava to cover planet surface
▪ Volcanic activity ongoing now
▪ Idunn Mons: very warm mountain, probably with magma underneath
▪ 1970s volcanic eruption => 1980s SO2 drop (from sudden SO2 eruption)
▪ Could whole planet be supervolcano? Repaves with lava eruption every hundreds millions years?
▪ W/o tectonics, slow bubbling leaks can continue prolonged => pancake domes
• Viscous lava => domes flat and wide (hot ground temp’C probably kept it flowing outwards)
• Surface features named after women/goddesses from various cultures

Mars

• Red (danger) planet => Ares, god of war

o Fe2O3 (rust) => red dusty surface – also blown into atmosphere
o Also grey igneous basalt => ochre hue
• Surface geography

© Devahuti C.
 Southern hemisphere Northern hemisphere

o Huge collision left behind vast basin near north pole => lower elevations (see above)
• Tharsis bulge: huge plateau with 4 biggest volcanoes (see grey spots above)
o Olympus Mons: largest volcano
o Planet used to have tectonics
▪ Tharsis over hot spot => bulge; plates slowly moved => plume punched through crust => chain of
3 smaller volcanoes
o Valles Marineris: giant crack/canyon
▪ Tharsis bulge rose up => valley as radial crack
• Polar ice caps
o Frozen CO2 (winter, 1-8 m thick) or H2O (most, several km thick)
▪ Summer: CO2 thawed into gas => fierce winds
▪ 1/3 atmosphere freezes, every winter
• Thin atmosphere => heavy cratering
o Tiny surface pressure, mostly CO2 air
• Seasonally, winds blow and fill craters with ubiquitous dust
o Basaltic sand => grey surface
o Windblown into dunes - parallel ridges, barchans (horseshoe dunes)
o Dust devils: towering wind vortices => red dust blown over grey plains => curlicues (sand patterns)
• Avalanches
o Spring: buried frozen CO2 thaws => dislodge material => cliffs rain cascades of rock and dust
• 2 small potato-shaped moons

Phobos:
o 25 km diameter, 6000 km above surface
o Orbits faster than mars rotates => rises in west and sets in east
o Martian tides altering orbit, lowering Phobos closer to surface

Deimos:
o 15 km diameter
• H2O ice at mid-latitudes
o Asteroid impact => underground ice deposits
• Water flowed on Mars, in distant past
o Present dry river/lake/ocean beds, sedimentary layers, minerals
o Mars used to have warmer thicker atmosphere, but then no more generator => magnetic field disappeared =>
vulnerable to solar wind => Martian atmosphere eroded, water blown off
o Simple organic molecules in rock, brief methane spike => life?
o Human on Mars
o Lava tubes: ancient lava flows => underground caverns (top cooled into roof, sometimes cracked to skylights)
▪ Human shelter from solar radiation, spring dust storms
▪ Could be sealed up and filled with air

Jupiter

o Biggest planet (Jupiter: Roman king of gods), gas giant, fastest spin (1 Jupiter day = 10 earth hours)
o Very reflective, 4 biggest moons visible
o Gas atmosphere

© Devahuti C.
 o H and He > ammonia, methane etc.
o Pressure and temp’C increase with depth, transitioning into liquid (press’re > temp’C)
Zones (lighter stripes) and belts (darker stripes)
o Circulate planet in opposite directions
o Fairly stable, shape and colouring change over time
o Due to convection currents:

Upwelling air cools => white ammonia clouds => light zones

Flows to sides, sinks; sunlight => yellow, red, brown molecules => dark belts

• Turbulence b/w zones and belts => storms

o Great Red Spot: stable colossal anti-cyclone
▪ Vortex persists when surrounding fluid rotating
▪ Cyanide-like molecules absorb blue light, let red pass through => red spot
▪ Shrinking, changes hue
• Liquid interior
o Huge pressure => liquid metallic H2 – hot electrical conductor (hotter than sun surface)
o Liquid + rapid rotation => flattened (wider at equator than at poles)
• Jupiter’s origins
o Bottom-up model:
▪ Large protoplanets at densest SS disc area => gravitationally aggregated
▪ Rocky metallic core drew in gas
o Top-down model:
▪ SS disc collapsed in several areas => huge distended clumps
▪ Clumps collided and aggregated => no core
• Not a failed star, just successful planet
o Jupiter’s far too small to undergo nuclear fusion at its core
• Emits more heat than receives from sun
o Other planets emit similar amount of heat received
o Jupiter: after formation, atmospheric gas cools => contracts => increases pressure inside planet => heats up
▪ Radiated away as infrared light; still actively cooling
▪ Belts and zones driven by Jupiter’s internal heat
• Metallic H + fast rotation => huge magnetic field
o Solar wind funnelled down => aurorae at poles – moons affect these (see below)
• Subtle ring around planet
o Meteorite impacts on moons => dust thrown into orbit
o Jupiter is large = more gravity => gets hit a lot by interplanetary debris
o Gravitational tides ripped comet to pieces which slammed into planet => leftover months-long scars visible
▪ Could be useful by distracting comets away from hitting earth
▪ Jupiter’s gravity takes comets falling towards inner solar system, flings them back out into space
▪ But also warps orbits of comets, so end up swinging by earth instead
▪ Which outweighs the other => net advantage/disadvantage for earthlings?

Jupiter’s moons

• 67 recorded moons attracted to Jupiter’s huge gravitational field

o 4 first-discovered (largest) Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io, Europa
▪ Ganymede and Io magnetically connected to Jupiter: charged particles flow from moons to Jupiter’s
poles => polar aurorae
• Ganymede – largest moon in SS
o Fe core => magnetic field
o Old crater terrain, smooth younger areas
o Crisscrossed with large grooves – maybe from tidal stress and strain on surface, due to other moons
o Salty oceans beneath surface
© Devahuti C.
 • Callisto
o Magnetic field
o Old, heavily cratered surface
o Very thin atmosphere
o Farthest of 4 => not as much attracted by other 3 major moons

• Io
o Nearest of 4
o >400 active volcanoes => S-rich eruptions => yellow, orange, red, black surface
▪ Energy from other moons: move past Io, flex it by tides=> heat interior through friction
▪ S => very thin atmosphere => S atoms picked up by Jupiter’s magnetic field and accelerated =>
doughnut-shaped radiation belt
• Europa
o Smallest of 4
o No craters; long dark cracks/streaks, complex ridges: interior water welled up => new surface
▪ Water moving beneath crust => crust shifts into surface patterns
▪ Tidal flexes from other moons => friction keeps interior warm => water stays liquid
o Silicate rock layer underneath ocean => ocean water salty => dark cracks rick in salt and carbon-based
compounds => life?
• Habitable zone: optimal distance from parent star, where temp’C supports liquid water
o In this SS, only Venus, earth, Mars (Venus too hot, Mars too cold – for water to stay liquid and support life)
• All moons tidally locked to Jupiter
• Amalthea (“hope goddess”??)
o Red <= Io’s S
• Moons get smaller and irregularly shaped…
o Many irregular distant moons in retrograde orbit; captured asteroids from nearby belt?
o Many with mutually similar orbits => broken off from single larger object?
o Doesn’t seem to have a lower limit for size

Saturn

• Least dense planet; gas giant

© Devahuti C.
• Rapid rotation, low density => oblate (wider at equator than poles)
• Cloud tops – ammonia ices
o Water clouds, lower down
• Farther from sun than Jupiter => colder => fainter bands (also deeper atmosphere than Jupiter)
• Oval hurricanes
• Hexagonal vortex at north pole (storm system)
o Spinning air circulating in spinning atmosphere
• Rings of nearly pure water-ice chunks
o Independent orbiters => Saturn has most moons
o Extremely thin/flat sheet
▪ Icy moon disrupted by collision => particles spread out, orbit uniformised
▪ Large moon near protoSaturn => rocky bits fell to Saturn’s core, icy bits left at surface
▪ Oblate planet => rings formed gravitated more towards equator
o 3 main rings – A, B, C

▪ Cassini division: gap b/w rings A and B

▪ Ringlets (narrow rings) inside <= resonance with moon Mimas: regular gravitational tugs => yanks them
out of orbit
▪ Ringlets common b/w main rings <= resonance from moons
▪ Very narrow F ring outside A ring <= Prometheus and Pandora orbit inside and outside ring => ring
particles confined to strict orbit
▪ Moons and ring particles interact => rippling waves in rings
o Small moons orbit Saturn in slightly inclined orbits => vertical excursions
• Saturn’s >60 moons
o Mimas
▪ Suffered impact => single huge crater
o Titan
▪ Huge (after Ganymede), really cold, thick haze atmosphere: N2, CH4, H2
▪ Wind-sculpted dunes of hydrocarbon grains
▪ Cryovolcanoes: volcanoes spewing water (“cold volcanoes”)
▪ Long winding channels suggest liquid flow on surface (too cold for water)
• Flat regions at poles – lakes of liquid CH4
• Shorelines change over time <= weather driven by CH4
o Enceladus
▪ Small and shiny (covered in water ice)
▪ Smooth and crated parts => resurfacing event in past
▪ Series of cracks <= cryovolcanism (active cryovolcanoes at south pole)
▪ Tiger stripes: series of cracks water erupting from deep under surface
▪ Under-surface ocean kept liquid by Saturn’s ferocious tides => squeezes moon as orbits
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 ▪ Organic molecules inside high plumes
o Iapetus
▪ Walnut-shaped, tall mountain ridge circling equator
o Hyperion
▪ Sponge-like
o Many have retrograde orbits => may be captured asteroids or Kuiper-belt objects (giant ice chunks)

Uranus

• Faintly visible to naked eye, in dark skies

• Lightweight – mostly mantle (dense, hot, pressured), “(non-water) ice giant”

o High mantle pressures can squeeze methane’s C into diamond => hail down to bottom of dark mantle
o Atmosphere’s methane absorbs red light => cyan/aquamarine planet hue
o IR camera => faint banding, some clouds
▪ Clouds: methane, ammonia, H2S; freezing
o Positioned sideways: summer => axis pointed towards sun; winter => axis away from sun
▪ Extreme seasons
o Odd magnetic field

▪ Magnetic axis tipped 500 from spin axis; magnetosphere way off centre
• >24 moons (5 major)
o Shakespearean-character names, e.g. Titania, Umbriel, Miranda, Ariel, Oberon, Puck, Portia
o Miranda:
▪ Icy patchwork (jumbled terrains, canyon/groove crisscrossing)
▪ Verona Rupes: tallest cliff in SS
• 13 rings, most faint and narrow
o Dark particles: ice and reddish organic molecules

Neptune

• Ice giant – similar to Uranus, but denser (more mass, less volume)

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 • Clouds of methane, ammonia, H2S lie at different depths => deeper blue?
• Wind-whipped white cloud streaks
o Low temp’C reduce friction => winds at highest speeds
o Vortices, cyclones => temporary dark spots
• Magnetic field offset from centre (icy mantle again?)
• 3 main rings
o 2 narrow, 1 broad
o Stretched clumps => incomplete arcs (constrained by small moonlets?)
• >12 moons
o Triton – largest
▪ Retrograde orbit <= gravitated from Kuiper belt?
▪ Surface of N and CO2 ice, water; flat, few craters (resurfaced recently)
• Probably resurfaced by cryovolcanoes
• Active N geysers (from sun’s heat?)
▪ Thin N atmosphere (<= surface evaporation?)

Asteroids

• “Asteroids” = “star-like” – but no standard definition

o Smaller rocky/metallic objects orbiting sun, out to Jupiter
o Past Jupiter => comets
• Different types
o Carbon-based (75%)
o Silicon-based (17%)
o Misc. – Fe, Ni, other metals (8%)
• Main belt: region with most asteroids – b/w Mars and Jupiter
o Kirkwood gap: few asteroids at this point, as Jupiter’s gravity yanks them in
▪ Asteroid would have 4-year orbit – 1/3 of Jupiter’s 12-year
▪ Other asteroids have similar simple multiples of Jupiter’s orbit
• Orbit families
o Parent asteroid disrupted by impact => smaller objects with similar orbits
o Sparsely populated
o Ceres is biggest, nearly spherical from own gravity
▪ Massive water reservoir
▪ Many craters, some bright (ice?)
▪ Localised water vapour on surface
• Sublimation: (s) => (g), from sun’s heat
• Or cryovolcanoes

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 o Vesta has 3rd largest volume, but 2nd largest mass
▪ Oblate spheroid
▪ Southern hemisphere hammered by impacts => huge basin
o Ida has small moon orbiting it (Tischendorf? :P)
▪ Many asteroids are binary with moons
▪ Kleopatra, dog-bone-shaped, has 2 moons
• Inter-asteroid collisions
o Slow collisions => cracks – accumulate over time => rubble pile: individual rocks bonded by own gravity
▪ Asteroid Itakawa – no craters, littered with rubble/debris, low density (loosely bound)
• Origins of main asteroid belt
o SS <= disk of material; over time, aggregated into clumps
o Jupiter left much debris in orbit => some clumped into asteroids
▪ Heavy materials sank to core, lighter formed mantle and crust
o More material b/w Mars and Jupiter in past, but eaten by Jupiter or flung out
▪ Mars is small <= Jupiter hogged most of its material
• Mars-crossing asteroids: those with orbits crossing Mars’ => closer to sun
• Apollo asteroids: those with orbits crossing earth’s => even closer to sun (Greek sun god)
• Aten asteroids: those with orbits entirely inside earth’s (Egyptian sun god)
• Near-earth asteroids: Aten and Apollo asteroids nearest earth
o Titled orbits => don’t physically cross earth’s => no collisions with earth!
o Some intersect earth’s orbit => only a problem when a same place at same time
• Lagrange points: points around planet’s orbit, where gravitational forces in balance => objects stays there

o Asteroids ahead of Jupiter, named after Greek figures in Trojan war (e.g. Achilles orbits 600 ahead)
o Asteroids behind Jupiter, named Trojans
o Spotted for Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, earth
▪ Earth’s ‘2010 TK7’: WISE (wide-field infra-red survey explorer) scanned skies for infrared heat
– radiated by asteroids
• Co-orbital asteroids: those with orbits similar to earth’s, but slightly elliptical and tilted

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Comets

• Comet: roughly hewn chunks leftover from SS formation; balanced mix of ice and rock (“dirty snowballs”)
o Ice: frozen water/CO2/methane/ammonia
• Elliptical orbits => from subfreezing outer space to nearer sun => sublimation: (s) straight to (g) => “hairy star” (tail)
o Nucleus = body; coma (“hair” in Latin) = tail
o Dust and gravel freed with ice turning to gas => tail/coma
• Tail/coma formation
o Gas vs. dust => 2 different tails, pointing in 2 different directions
▪ Gas ionised by sun’s UV => deflected by magnetic field (solar wind) away from sun
• Solar wind faster than comet => ion tail away from sun
• CO => blue light, C => green light
▪ Sunlight pushes dust particles => blows lazily way, lagging behind comet
o Low density, far-flung
• Short-period comets: orbital period < 200 years
o Usually orbit sun in same plane and direction as planets (stick near ecliptic line, as seen from earth)
• Long-term comets: orbital period > 200 years
o Orbits tilted any way => can appear anywhere in sky
• Eventually, comet evaporates
o Sundivers/sungrazers: dive into and skim past sun’s surface => evaporate at once
o Not all do <= 2 comet repositories (short-period and long-term) orbiting sun, beyond Neptune
▪ Orbits lasting millennia; then something tweaked => turn toward sun
• Halley’s comet
o Surface black: thick dust laced with darker molecules, few gas-emitting spots
▪ Ice deposits underneath surface, crust cracks let some receive sun’s heat to sublimate
• Comet 67P/CG
o 2 lobes – 2 separate comets aggregated together?
o No craters (young, not hit yet); gas emitted from specific spots
o Wide circular pits (gas vents getting wider over time, as ice sublimates underneath?)
o As nears sun, surface ice warms and changes structure into harder crust
• Comet Wild 2
o Had carbon-based molecules (incl. AAs) in its coma => life (also) brought to earth from comet impacts?

Oort cloud

• SS formation: outer parts were cooler => water-ice dust/etc. chunks

o Outer planets would draw them in or kick them out into different orbits => towards sun or into deep space
• Nice model:
o Planets and corpus of ice chunks pulled on each other
o Saturn, Uranus and Neptune moved away from sun; Jupiter moved towards Sun
o Neptune => biggest effect on iceballs (bordered biggest volume of their space)
▪ Neptune moved outwards => close encounters flung ice chunks into elliptical and tilted orbits
▪ Repeated distant encounters => bigger orbits
o Outer-planet shuffling => late heavy bombardment: intense shower of objects streaming down to scar planets
and moons
• 3 distinct pop’ns – Kuiper belt, scattered disc, Oort cloud

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 o Aligned with plane of planets, stable orbits – unaffected by Neptune
o Just outside Neptune’s orbit

Scattered disc

o Origin of short-period comets

o Iceballs sent by Neptune => elliptical tilted orbits
o Overlaps Kuiper belt on inner edge
o Paths b/w Jupiter and Neptune => close encounter with Jupiter => closer to sun

Oort cloud

(Similar to embryonic formation!)

o Origin of long-period comets
o Near-parabolic orbits, swinging around sun
• Plutinos
o Pluto in Kuiper belt
▪ Elliptical, mildly tilted path – brings it closer to Neptune, never colliding with planet

▪ Pluto:Neptune sun-orbiting ratio = 2:3 => when Pluto closest to sun, Neptune 90’ away in orbit
• So Neptune doesn’t affect Pluto
o Attrition
▪ In the past, many such objects with varying tilts and orbits
▪ Those too close to Neptune, tweaked into different orbits => comets or out into space
▪ Only 3:2 or 2:1 orbit resonance/ratio with Neptune, could survive => Plutinos
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 o Eris has similar volume to Pluto, but more mass in it => denser
▪ Rockier than icy Pluto
o Pluto’s moon – Charon (Ha! River Styx to Hades/Pluto)
▪ Tiny, but enough mass for Pluto to somewhat orbit it back => mutual centre of mass, as binary system
o Pluto characteristics
▪ Smaller than earth’s moon, unusually reflective surface (so discovered first)
o Sedna and VP113
▪ Very elliptical orbits; Sedna has longest orbit, twice as farther out than VP113
• Sun could’ve stolen other stars’ long-period comets, too
o Stars pass by each other

Meteors

• Meteoroid: interplanetary debris – rock, ice, metal

o Meteor: ramming through earth’s atmosphere, heated to incandescence
o Meteorite: hits earth’s ground

Meteors gain mass as they plummet (earth’s gravity accelerates it)

▪ When stopped, all that kinetic energy => light and heat
▪ Fast-moving meteor compresses air in front => heated gas => air radiates away heat => heats meteoroid
o Ablation: surface material vaporises and blows away => glowing train behind meteor
• Sporadic meteors: tiny random meteors – rocky, usually from inter-asteroid collisions
• Meteor shower: pack of meteors from comets
o Comet sublimation => gas and dust scattered along orbit => puffy ribbon around sun
o Earth plows through debris ribbon => meteor shower
o Radiant: sky point where meteors seem to be coming from, named after corresponding constellation
▪ Annual showers – Perseids in Aug, Leonids in Nov, etc.
▪ Observe whilst just after midnight – looking straight into earth’s path through debris
• Bolide/fireball: grapefruit-sized bright meteor
o Immense pressure of ramming earth’s air => meteoroid crumbles/explodes
o Typically slow rapidly after blaze, interiors remain cold
• Meteorites => 3 categories:
o Stony: majority
▪ Chondrites: with condrules (mineral grains); condensed from SS’s original disc formation
• Ratio of elements from radiactive decay => age
▪ Achondrites: no chondrules, probably from bigger asteroid once molten through (mixed minerals)
• Collision disrupted parent body => achondritic meteoroids
o Iron: probably from centre of large asteroid (metals gravitated to centre)
▪ Collision exploded asteroid => scattered along asteroid belt
▪ Some had orbits eventually intersecting earth’s
o Stony-iron: rarest; green/orange olivine crystals in metal web => pallasites

Light

• Electromagnetic radiation: electric and magnetic fields intertwined

o Wavelength inversely correlated with energy (high freq. => high energy) – V = fλ
o Electromagnetic spectrum:

© Devahuti C.
 • Colour spectrum
o Visible light is range sun emits strongest => humans evolved to see it, to see surroundings
o Different telescopes to detect different wavelengths
• Heated objects release energy along EM spectrum
o Cooler objects => longer wavelength, lower freq./energy = “redder” light
o Hotter objects => shorter wavelength, higher freq./energy = “bluer” light
• Gas clouds => light

o Electrons absorb light energy to go up specific levels, emit light energy to go down specific levels
▪ Different elements have different differences in ascending/descending energy levels => different
wavelengths of light emitted for same energy absorbed
▪ => Spectrometers to find what elements different astronomical objects made of
o Thin gas clouds: atoms floating free => elements identifiable individually
▪ Not so dense => colour not so dependent on temp’C
▪ Mostly H, some He, + heavier elements
• Doppler effect
o Sound
▪ Longer wavelength => lower pitch
▪ Shorter wavelength => higher pitch
o Light
▪ Longer wavelength => object moving away (red shift)
▪ Shorter wavelength => object moving closer (blue shift)

Distances

• Ancient Greeks knew earth was round: ships sailing over horizon
• Size of earth – Eratosthenes:
o Summer solstice sun shining down in Syene vs. Alexandria – angle over distance => circumference: ~ 4 x 103 km
• Lunar eclipse => earth’s shadow on moon
o Knowing earth’s size, calculate distance to moon
• Moon phases: angles and distances b/w earth, moon, sun
o Aristarchus: earth’s size => distances to, and sizes of, moon and sun
• Interplanetary distances
o Kepler and Newton: maths of planetary orbits => distances to each planet (given earth-sun distance)
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 o Astronomical unit (AU): distance b/w earth and sun = 149 597 870.7 km (average, given elliptical orbit)
▪ Timing transits over sun, of planets closer to sun => AU length (except atmosphere blurs images)
▪ Radio telescopes => bounce radar pulses off Venus => time taken for light to get to Venus and back
• AU => measure motions of celestial objects, launch probes to explore them
o Stereoscopic vision => parallax: shift in positions of objects, depending on which eye used
▪ Baseline: distance b/w eyes
o Depth perception of stars <= baseline: earth’s orbit (diameter: 300 000 000 km)

• Light year: distance light travels in a year = 10 000 000 000 000 km
• Parsec: angle star shifts in year
o 1 parsec away = parallax shift of 1/36000 degree = 3.26 light years
• Light intensity declines with square of distance => calculate distances of more distance stars
o 2 stars have same intrinsic brightness – check via spectroscopy
o Measure parallax of near star => get distance of farther star
• Distance, apparent brightness => luminosity, spectrum => temp’C => mass, diameter

Stars

• Astrophotography => long exposures => fainter farther objects in more detail
o Spectrum: incoming light divided into individual wavelengths (colours)

▪ 2 kinds of spectra:
© Devahuti C.
 • Stars are hot dense gas balls => emit light at all wavelengths
• Stars have atmospheres: thinner layers above denser layers of gas – different elements
absorb different colours, from whole spectrum emitted from below hot dense gas ball
o Stars first classified according to strength of hydrogen lines
▪ Strongest: A … down to Z
o Annie Jump Cannon merged and rearranged classifications => strengths + different absorption lines
o Max Planck: different temp’C => emit different colours
▪ Hotter => bluer (high freq.)
▪ Colder => redder (low freq.)
o Meghnad Saha: atoms give off light at different temp’Cs
o Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: star spectra depend on temperature and composition of atmospheres
• Stars found to be mostly H, then He
• Stars now assigned by temp’C, each given letter with subgroups:

o Later, cooler stars added: L, T, Y

o Our sun: 5500’C => G2 star; Sirius is hottest star => A0

Exoplanets

• Detection via reflexive motion: central star forming little circular path, in response to planet’s wider orbit around it
• Pulsar: dead remnant of exploded star – but can have planets orbiting, after explosion, from leftover gravitated debris
• Host star’s little circular path => sometimes towards us, sometimes away => Doppler effect
• 1st exoplanet found: 51 Peg B
o Orbital period ~ 4.32 days – super close to parent star
o Massive planet: makes host sun go quicker
o Planet would’ve formed farther out, then migrated inwards till ran out of disk material to interact with
▪ Called “hot Jupiters”: Jupiter started out the same way, but got blocked by Saturn from migrating
farther inwards
▪ Massive and fast => easier to detect
• 2nd exoplanet found: HD209458b
o 3.5 days’ orbit – transit occurs edge-on to earth => dip seen in host star’s brightness
▪ Amount of sunlight blocked => how big exoplanet is
▪ Density = mass/volume (planet’s mass from star’s Doppler shift, planet’s size from transit)
• st
1 exoplanet photographed: 2M1207B
o 5 x Jupiter’s mass, orbiting brown dwarf
o Planet still glowing hot from formation => seen via IR telescope
• Planet orbiting star beta Pictoris
o 7 x Jupiter’s mass, orbital period ~ 20 years
• “Super earths”: earth < planet’s size < Neptune
• Exoplanets also around binary star systems – interesting days on those planets!
• Many exoplanets earth-sized, but earth-like is yet debatable…

Brown dwarfs

© Devahuti C.
 • Suns: nuclear fusion (2H => He) => heat expansion, restrained by inward gravity
• Planets: too small for nuclear fusion, but outward gas pressure + inward gravity
• Brown dwarf: too big to be planet, too small to be nuclear-fusion star => emits low red light, radiates heat, cools off
o L on the heat scale (below M for coolest actual star)
o Low-mass brown dwarf has unfused Li, despite being hot as higher-mass L star
▪ Regular stars quickly use up Li for nuclear fusion (in place of H)
• 1st 2 brown dwarfs found: Teide 1, Gliese 229 (Pleiades cluster)
o Gliese 229 also had methane, cooler than L-dwarf Teide 1 => T dwarfs (all IR radiation)
• WISE (wide-field infrared survey explorer) – orbiting observatory, scanning for brown dwarfs
o Even cooler ones: Y-dwarfs
o Coolest would be black (no radiation), some still warm => magenta (cooler steam-water and methane)
▪ Molecules block more red than blue light
• Increase in mass does not result in increase in volume, but in density (M=DV)
o Small dwarf ~ big planet (differ only in origin)
▪ Planet from disc of material around star, growing larger with accretion
▪ Brown dwarf collapses directly from cloud of gas and dust
• More massive brown dwarfs fuse deuterium
• Atmospheres depend on temperature – can vary widely
o Vaporised (hotter) or molten/raining (cooler) Fe
• Nearest star(s) to our sun: Proxima Centauri orbiting Alpha Centauri
o Nearby – binary brown dwarfs, Luhman 16

Low-mass stars

• Rate of nuclear fusion depends on core pressure of star

o Higher mass => higher pressure => higher rate of nuclear fusion – run out quicker
o So lower-mass stars live longer (trillion yrs.) => cool red dwarfs
• H fused only at small cores, surrounding gas convects H and He to surface => cool and fall back to core
o H recycled => more nuclear fusion
o When eventually runs out of fuel, star will be pure He (+ heavier elements born with) – cold, black, dead
• Bigger, sun-like stars: cores are bigger, hotter, denser
o Contain radiating zone b/w core innermost and outermost convective zone
o Material doesn’t convect to outside, hot H and He stay in the core
o Use up fuel quicker, also have less fuel to begin with (last only billions of yrs.)
o He accumulates in core => density increases, gas heats more over time => sun getting hotter and brighter
o Once H runs out and fusion stops, core will continue to contract and heat up outer layers
o Middle layer will get hot enough for nuclear fusion => will heat up outer layer too => expand to double size
o Subgiant: dying star grown double in size – radiate more energy in total, but less per unit area => cool surface
o But core continues to contract and heat up => outer layers swell to 10-150 x size => red giant
o Energy still percolating up to outer layers, increased size tremendously => brightness increases x 2000
o Surface gravity will drop, energy blasting out easily overpowers => surface material blown off => lose 1/3 mass
o Core contracting and heating up until nuclear fusion of even He, this time => into C => core expands
o Absorbs most of that energy, so now sun’s outer layers contract => sun shrinks
o Outer layers get dense again => warms it up again, sun turns from red to orange
▪ Still 10 x current size, but radiates 20-50 x energy
o He now fusing in core, C accumulating => core contracts and heats up => more energy to outer layers
o Outer layers expand and cool => 2nd red giant – but brighter, bigger, loses more ½ leftover mass
o Rate of He fusion unstable => very fluctuating => huge paroxysms – epic eruptions, losing more mas each time
o Finally no more mass to fuse C => accumulate in core => hot, bright, compact ball ~ earth size => white dwarf
▪ Cool and fade into death
• Suns bigger than sun => planetary nebulae
• Earth: even before subgiant stage of sun, hot enough to melt rocks
o Sun will expand, but loss of gravity will allow earth to move out – hopefully quicker than being enveloped
o If sun loses > ½ mass, planets flung into interstellar space

White dwarfs, planetary nebulae

© Devahuti C.
 • When He fusion stops, sun left with ½ mass leftover => electrons and C nuclei
o Electron forces: repulsion and degeneracy pressure
• Electron degeneracy pressure <= Pauli exclusion principle
o Extra repulsion - on top of that due to opposing charges
o Supports star core once He fusion runs out
o Outward electron degeneracy pressure balances inward gravitational (white dwarf)
▪ Super dense => gravity enormous on surface
▪ Super hot (esp. newborn) => white, UV and x-rays
▪ Small => faint (closest: Sirius B)
• Larger white dwarf’s outer layers expelled as gaseous wind => glows from white dwarf’s radiation => planetary nebula
• Nebula rotating very slowly => gas blown off in sphere around dying star – but few circular
o Red giant spins slowly => blows off dense slow solar wind
o Expose deeper hotter parts => blows faster, less dense wind => catches up with and slams into slower wind
▪ => Circular soap-bubble appearance
o Some stars binary => circle each other rapidly => forces solar wind outward in total orbital shape => flattened
▪ Due to “centrifugal” (normal opposite reaction to centripetal) force
▪ Fast wind slams into orbital plane and decelerates, but less material in polar directions
▪ Lobes stretching far, both ways
▪ Stars would have to be really close together or have planets to make up the gravity
▪ Exoplanets whizzing around inside star => rotate faster => actual nebular shapes (truly planetary)
o Glow from hot central white dwarf’s gas emission
▪ Most H => red
▪ Brighter O => green, blue
▪ N, S => red
• Eventually gas expansion => nebula fades out

High-mass stars

• Nuclear fusion creates elements with higher atomic numbers, but the heavier ones need higher temp’Cs and pressures
to form => stars with masses higher than 8 x sun’s, can fuse even C etc.
o C => Ne => Mg, O => Na, Si (consecutive inflation-deflation cycles – see above)
• Si fusion =-> Fe
• Massive star’s H-fusing period as blue main-sequence star, then contracts before He fusion => swells into red
supergiant
o E.g. Betelgeuse in Orion, VY Canis Majoris (hypergiant)
o As core switches between elements to fuse, outer layers contract and expand => red supergiant shrinks to blue
supergiant (e.g. Rigel)

Hydrogen, Helium

o Hotter cores + quicker fusion => bigger stars run out of fuel quicker
o Each fusion step happens faster than one before (H fusion happens longest, Si fusion occurs in a day)
• When Fe core shrinks and heats up, absorbs energy instead => accelerates shrinking, compresses and heats core
o Fe nuclei also absorb core-supporting electrons whizzing around
• Core collapses => 2 options:
© Devahuti C.
 1. < 20 x sun’s mass => core collapse stops at ~ 20 km wide => neutron star
2. > 20 x sun’s mass => core collapse continues => black hole
• During core collapse, outer layers crash hard into inner layers
1. Monster shock wave moves outward, slams into and decelerates incoming material
2. Neutrinos generated => huge energy
• Normally passes through normal matter
• So huge, slams into incoming material => material stops and blasts back outwards =>
supernova
• Supernova remnant => irregular shapes
o E.g. Crab nebula (beginning of new star)
o Trendrils <= material expands into gas and dust surrounding progenitor star
o Expand and age => bright rims as push into material b/w stars, filaments
• Explosive nucleosynthesis: star explodes => gas gets hot and compressed => undergoes nuclear fusion
o New elements: Ca, P, Ni, Fe
o Flung-out material mixes with other gas and dust clouds => new stars formed

Neutron stars

• Star of 8-20 x solar mass ends in supernova => split-second expansion of superheated plasma => light and neutrinos
o Ball of neutrons in centre => neutron star (20 km wide)
• Even electron degeneracy fails to stop collapse of core of > 1.4 x sun’s mass => subatomic particles fuse into neutrons

o Neuron degeneracy: resist being squeezed together, even more than electrons do
▪ Core: 2.8 x sun’s mass => collapse stops
▪ Neutrino shockwave outwards => neutron star
▪ Phenomenal density (made of neutronium) => astounding gravity
▪ Since got much smaller, spins much faster and has greater magnetic field
• Jocelyn Bell, 1967
o Persistent background noise => discovery of pulsar (neutron star)
▪ Rapid rotation + strong magnetic fields => twin energy beams from polar ends of star
▪ Rotating beams detected on earth, as pulses of increased brightness (visible, radio and x-rays)
▪ Very stable spin => accurately timed cosmic clock
• Some neutron stars have normal stars orbiting them (binary system)
o Close enough => neutron star feeds off other star => increases spin rate => millisecond pulsars etc.
o Can power nebula surrounding it
• Crust of highly compressed, normal crystalline matter
o Magnetic field penetrates and stretches out massive distance, super strong => magnetar
▪ Magnetic field slows spin => weakens magnetic field
o Crust and magnetic field locked together => change in one results in change in the other

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 ▪
Gravity and spin cause strain on crust => crack into starquake => humongous energy output
• Explosion shakes magnetic field => magnetar flare (unfathomably powerful)
• Magnetar SGR1806-20 => blasted x-rays outwards (50 000 light years away)
o Saturated Swift satellite (even pointing different direction)
o Compressed earth’s magnetic field
o Partially ionised earth’s upper atmosphere

Black holes

• Star’s mass > 2.8 x sun’s => core’s inward gravity overcomes outward neutron degeneracy => continued collapse
• As gravity gets stronger, escape velocity needed (for any object from it) gets higher
o When massive star’s volume reduces to 18 km wide, escape velocity = speed of light => not even light can
escape black hole if it gets smaller
o Event horizon: boundary around black hole, where escape velocity = speed of light
▪ Any event within boundary cannot be known
▪ Objects only get sucked in when past event horizon (small radius)
• Black-hole types:
o Stellar-mass BH: 3-12 x sun’s mass
▪ Consumes more matter => becomes more massive => event horizon widens
▪ Galaxies have black holes at centres – crucial to initial galaxy formation
▪ Milliseconds into black hole, spaghettification of object
▪ Gravitation force much larger on object’s end facing BH, than on end facing away from BH
o Supermassive BH: millions/billions km across
▪ Distance b/w object’s ends comparatively small => doesn’t bother spaghettifying
• Space-time fabric, distorted by object masses (seen as gravitational pulls)
o When massive object warps space, also warps time (inseparable)
▪ Person affected more by gravity, is affected less by time (time goes more slowly, for them)
• Astronauts age quicker in space
▪ At event horizon, time stops
• Gravitational red shift: object’s reflected light losing energy into black hole (low freq. => red)
• Going into BH, object sees universe behind speed up with blue shift (higher energy)

Binary/multiple stars

• Optical double stars: far-apart stars which seem close together to us, in space
• Binary stars: stars actually close together, orbiting each other
• Kink in Big Dipper constellation: binary system – Mizar and Alcor
o Differentiating the two was used as eye test in ancient times!
• Form together in stellar nursery (nebula) => 2 dense clumps accumulating material
• Visual binary: the two stars can be seen separately with a telescope
o E.g. Sirius: with x-ray telescope, orbiting white dwarf is brighter
o Observe orbital motions => distance from earth gives actual size and shape of orbits => stellar masses
▪ Then volume, brightness, longevity => astrophysics
• Spectroscopic binary: detected by spectroscopy
o One star moving towards us (blue shift), the other away from us (red shift), in their orbits => Doppler shifts
• Mizar and Alcor are sextuple star system
o Mizar is visual and spectroscopic binary (2+2)
o Alcor is spectroscopic binary (2)
• Multiple star systems
o Polaris (current north star) – pentuple system
o Hard to get stable system; some stars often ejected out at any time
• To find stars born of same nebula, look at chemical compositions
• Orbitals can take minutes to centuries (e.g. 4U 1820-30: neutron star + white dwarf, 11.4 mins.)
• Eclipsing binary: orbits in our line of vision => see them transit across each other

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Large star transits in front Small star orbits in front
=> blocks more light => blocks less light

o Get stellar sizes, masses, rotation rates, temp’Cs, orbits, distance from earth
• Contact binary: two stars in direct contact
o Mutual tide effects => stretched into teardrop shapes – sometimes merge => double-lobed peanut shape
o Can evolve and swap mass and power dynamics
▪ Algol paradox: lower-mass star becoming more evolved than higher-mass star (from contact)
• Contact binary star Algol, in cluster Perseus, showed this effect
o Billions years after mass transfer, high-mass star has lost outer layers into dense white dwarf; other star
eventually runs out of H fuel and swells into red giant => material flows onto white dwarf with strong gravity
▪ If H flowing onto white dwarf’s surface accumulates enough, gravity can fuse it into He
▪ If flow rate is optimal, fusion occurs in single colossal flash => erupts in explosive flare
• Stellar nova: previously invisible star flared into visibility
• Recurrent nova: explosion can cyclically blow out matter from other star
o Slower matter stream => material fuses steadily => no accumulation => no explosion
▪ If white dwarf’s mass builds to 1.4 x sun’s, compressed by own gravity => temp’C increases to C fusion
• Electron degeneracy pressure fed into producing more C => all C fuses at once => supernova

Star clusters

• Most stars born in clusters – open or globular

o Open cluster: loosely bound collection of 12s-1000s of stars, irregular shape, seen by eye as faint fuzzy patches
▪ Dense clumps contract => individual stars, bound by mutual gravity => gravitational smear
▪ Stellar orbits, around average centre of mass, oriented in all different directions
▪ Identify H-fusing stars by spectra => stellar mass => cluster age
▪ Most open clusters are young, because they evaporate
• Stars constantly tug on each other’s orbits, exchange energies (for escape velocities) as they
pass by
• Over time, lower-mass stars gain enough energy to escape cluster => then next-lower-mass
stars…
• Leftover, most massive stars explode
o Neutron stars and black holes repel, aided by gas-cloud collisions and tidal forces of
stars in galaxy
▪ E.g. Pleiades – 7 Sisters:

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 • Most look blue because of selection bias towards detecting brighter stars
o Redder stars need telescopes to be viewed
• Coincidentally embedded in dust cloud glowing blue from reflected and deflected light
o Globular cluster: 100 000s of stars forming sphere with well-defined core
▪ Stars scattered around core, orbiting at different angles
▪ Most globular clusters are old, because were some of first objects formed in universe
• Most massive stars are smaller than sun: even sun-sized stars have died as red giants
• Lighter elements in stars (old stars formed before universe seeded with elements from
massive-star fusions) => don’t form earth-like planets around; nearby stars would eject them
anyway
▪ Denser, spend most of lives uninterrupted outside galaxy (long looping orbits) => live longer than
open clusters
▪ All of same age and distance from earth => brighter-looking stars are actually brighter per se
▪ Many dead stars – white dwarfs, neuron stars, black holes
• Strip off stellar companions’ material => fall into black hole and emit detectable x-rays
▪ Low-mass red stars left => globulars tend to look red
• Blue stragglers: few blue stars formed by stars merging into single higher-mass stars

Nebulae

• Nebula: cloud of gas/dust in space

o “Nebulae” = “clouds” (Latin)
• Stellar recycling hub => newborn stars
o Medium star dies => blows off winds of gas, lights them up (via leftover white-dwarf core)
o High-mass star explodes => vaporises into violently expanding gas cloud
• Can categorise nebulae by sight
o Emission nebula: nearby massive star blasts light onto nebula => nebular gas excited => electrons jump to
higher energy level => emit photons as jump back down => gas glows
▪ Colour depends on gas elements and temp’C (H => red, IR, radio, UV; O => green > blue)
▪ Tenuous and large
o Reflection nebula: nearby/inner massive star blasts light onto nebula => nebula reflects it
▪ Mostly dust: tiny grains of silicates, Al2O3, Ca – often laced with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAH; soot)
▪ Dust is major diffractor, wavelength-dependent: blue scattered most, red scattered least
• E.g. Pleaides – blue reflection nebula
o Thick dust absorbs visible light in nebula (e.g. Barnard 58) => molecular clouds
o Centre: dense enough => extinguish starlight
o Perimeter: optimal density => blue scattered, red through => reddens starlight
o Molecular clouds: cold enough for atoms to form molecules
▪ Small to giant molecular clouds
• Orion nebula (giant molecular cloud, emission nebula)
o Star-forming factory with 4 core massive luminous stars (Trapezium)
o Bubble sitting on edge of larger cold dark molecular cloud
▪ Trapezium started out inside larger molecular cloud, then started H-fusing and emitting UV => eroded
hole through gas and dust
▪ Orion is gas-filled cavity on side of larger cloud, heated to glowing by Trapezium
▪ Dense protoplanetary discs => see as dark silhouettes against bright nebular gas
• Use IR to infiltrate darkness and view protostars forming inside discs
• Eagle nebula
o Active star factory with massive luminous stars emitting UV => erodes surrounding nebula (photoevaporation)
▪ Dense protostar-forming stars resist erosion => protect/shield material behind => long fingers of
material in silhouette (against hotter gas) – use IR to see stars inside
• 3 giant towers – Pillars of Creation (stars forming at tips)
• Eventually, penetrating star-emitted UV will still overpower and erode them
• Some nebulae have sharp edges <= gas cloud expanding
o Gas slams into interstellar medium (thinner gas strewn b/w stars)

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 o Expanding gas accumulates, getting denser, glowing brighter
o Star winds compress gas, star explosion shockwaves => sheets, tendrils, filaments in nebulae
• Horsehead nebula
o Superimposed on bright emission nebula
o Eroded by Sigma Orionis star, making background glow
• Barnard’s Loop nebula
o Arc of material <= expanding gas from supernovae or winds from massive stars born in Orion
o Outer edge of huge bubble of substantial material in Orion
• Light given off depends on temp’C
o Dark dust clouds glowing with IR
o E.g. M78 – reflection nebula in Orion: long filaments towards earth

Milky Way

• Vast flat discoid collection of gas, dust, stars; 100 000 light years wide, 1000s light years thick
• Hundreds billions stars – incl. sun around suburbs
• Disc has 2 major and 2 minor spiral arms, bulging cylindrical collection of old red stars in middle

• Light patch in sky, seen by eye (“galaxius” = “milky” way) => Galileo found it to be mass of stars
• Counting stars, from different angles on earth, to tell how far galaxy stretches in those directions
o Doesn’t take into account interstellar dust obscuring light from stars
o Globular clusters orbit galaxy outside main body, evenly distributed in space
▪ Saw one side of sky more littered with globular clusters than other => we must be off-centre
• With radioastronomy, can see past dust, to determine structure of disc
o Nebulae emit narrow range of radiowaves => measure Doppler shift to see if moving away from, or towards,
us (blue = increasing frequency => towards us; red = decreasing frequency => away from us), + distances
o Nebular locations => spiral arms of Milky Way, 10s of 1000s light years long
▪ Spiral arms had young massive bright stars, none in gaps b/w
• Stars form in giant nebulae, but massive ones short-lived (then explode as supernovae)
• Most nebulae in arms => massive stars don’t live long enough to stray far
• Spiral arms are traffic jams, where stars come into and go out of
o Initial jam started by disturbance in disc (e.g. molecular clouds colliding) => propagates/ripples outwards
o Sheared into spiral by rotation of disc objects => stars and nebulae enter wave, pile up, exit wave
o Objects in waves are transient, so arms aren’t structures to wind up into centre of galaxy
o Nebula entering arm might hit another waiting in queue => former nebula collapses into stars
▪ Some stars are massive luminous blue hot – easily spottable => galaxy looks blue, arms accentuated
o Most star births in arms => maintains spiral
o Short spurs also stream off 4 spiral arms – our sun is off Orion arm
• Central bulge = long bar + galactic bar
o Cylindrical bar of redder stars pointed nearly directly at us => we see it as almost circular front
o Very old region – lower-mass stars here born long ago, ceased when gas ran out (big blue stars long exploded)

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 o 20 000 light years long, due to galactic gravity spread over large area
o Rotates as single unit around single supermassive black hole
• Surrounding halo – cloud of stars
o No star formation here, so stars already here are very old
▪ Formed here, or flung out here from collisions with more central stars
▪ Most globular clusters (>150) are here

Galaxies

• Discovery of galaxies other than ours

o Hubble and Humason espied spiral nebula M31 in Andromeda, using telescope
▪ Cepheid variables: pulsating stars, periodically changing brightness
• Time taken to pulse was directly correlated with luminosity => measure period and apparent
brightness => measure distance to (900 000 light years away)
• Wide variety of sizes and shapes – categorised by shape:
o Spiral
▪ Broad flat rotating discs of stars, gas, dust
▪ Central bulge of older redder stars
• Sometimes long cylindrical/rectangular bar of stars
• Reddish yellow: star formation long ceased, bluer stars already exploded
▪ Extended surrounding halo of older stars
▪ Spiral types:
• Grand-design spirals (well-organised arms, extending from centre to edge)
• Flocculent spirals: choppy/patchy arms
• Wide-flung vs. tightly wound
▪ Star-forming nebulae laid out like beads on spiral arms => pink from H
▪ Young massive luminous stars glow surrounding gas blue, accentuating spiral
▪ Dust clouds align with arms in mid-plane of galaxy, sometimes bisect galaxy
• Galaxy formed from huge gas clouds
• Cloud collapses => eddies amplified => overall spin => cloud flattens, before stars form
o Elliptical
▪ Puffy, with no overall structure
▪ Huge range of sizes; smallest are white-dwarf ellipticals
▪ No gas/dust, just populated with older stars (all young massive stars long gone)
▪ Could be formed from galactic collisions
• Strong mutual gravitational pulls => huge collisions: very fast, very long
• Early stages: strong tidal effects – nearest stars in opposing galaxies mutually pulled more
than farther stars => galaxies stretched => long tendrils of stars and gas, drawn out
o Usually sideswiping collisions => curved tidal streamer => irregular galactical shape
▪ Sometimes galaxies briefly separate => main bodies collide upon reunion
o Stars so sparsely populated, highly unlikely for individual stars to collide
o Larger gas clouds => collide and collapse => form stars fast
• Colliding galaxies glow pink and blue: stars born and light up surrounding H clouds
• If high-enough velocity, galaxies pass through each other
o Most will still slow, stop, recollide
• Eventually merge, kinetic energy absorbed by orbiting stars => bigger orbits
o Peculiar
▪ Big spiral colliding with, and cannibalising, smaller galaxy
• Big galaxy tears apart and absorbs smaller one
• Most large galaxies formed this way (incl. Milky Way)
o Also eating smaller galaxies (Sagittarius and Canis Majoris dwarf galaxies), right now
▪ All from collisions
• Small galaxy punches through core of large galaxy, drawing in stars and flinging them away in
larger galaxy => ring galaxy (e.g. Cartwheel galaxy, Hoag’s object)
o Irregular
▪ Small, chaotically shaped

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 • Bigger ones might have been collided with => distorted enough to lose structure
• Smaller ones might have bee too tiny to aggregate into organised shape
▪ Companion/satellite galaxies orbiting larger galaxy
• Milky Way has ~24 such satellite galaxies; biggest: large and small Magellanic Clouds

• Large MG hosts Tarantula nebula (big active star-forming gas cloud)

o Forming so many stars, might form into globular cluster
• Quasi-stellar radio source (QUASAR): luminous distant galaxy – most powerful E source in universe
o X-ray observatories found more (high energy/frequency waves)
o Some quasars even emitted as high as gamma rays => active galaxies
▪ Subcategories based on spectra and light emission method
o Need supermassive black holes (huge gravity) to power quasars
• Black holes form active galaxies
o Material coalesces, some falls into central black hole => black hole grows with host galaxy
o Material falling in forms accretion disc around event horizon
▪ Closer to black hole, material orbits faster than material farther out => internal friction => heat blasts
out light across electromagnetic spectrum
o Magnetic fields + fast accretion-disc rotation => twin beams of matter and energy launched perpendicularly

▪ Eventually slow down, ramming through intergalactic thin material => puff up, glowing radio waves
o Active galaxies look different, owing to our viewing angles from their accretion discs
▪ Edge-on: thick dust blocks high-energy light, but disc radiation heats up surrounding dust clouds => IR
▪ Tipped: more optical and high-energy light seen
▪ Poles towards us: highest-energy light (x- and gamma rays) seen
• Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole
o Quiescent – not actively feeding => not active galaxy
▪ Only see flares when swallows gas cloud
▪ But can be activated by galactic collision
• Black holes activated by intergalactic collisions
o Gas dumped into galaxy centres => gobbled down, heated up
o Fate of our galaxy in billions years

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 Local group of galaxies
▪ Local group had many more galaxies, but the 2 big galaxies (MW < Andromeda) ate them up
o Possible Milkomeda (combined MW and Andromeda) in future
o Andromeda is blue-shifted – so heading towards us
o Billions years later, galactic tides => stretch both galaxies out => long curving streamers of stars
o May swing repetitively past each other, closer and closer till merge into elliptical galaxy (Milkomeda)
o Earth may still be around then (long before sun dies)!
o 2 central black holes will orbit each other
▪ Gas and dust (from star formation during collision) will fall to centre
▪ Both black holes gobble them down => turn into active galaxy (death rays should miss earth)

• Galaxy clusters
o 1000s galaxies in one cluster; nearest to us is Virgo
o Bound by mutual gravity, galaxies have long orbits and are of all different types
o Many clusters have huge elliptical central galaxy <= collisions b/w smaller galaxies
▪ More mass falls to centre => galaxy there enlarges
• Galaxy superclusters (cluster clusters)
o Several 12s clusters comprising supercluster
o Our local group and Virgo are part of Virgo supercluster – appendage of larger Laniakea supercluster
o Superclusters fall along interconnected filaments, interspersed with galaxy-less voids
o Hubble telescope pointing out towards emptiest sky, collecting light over time (x n) => Hubble Deep Fields:

▪ Found ~ 100 000 000 000 galaxies in (this) universe, in total

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Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)

• Designed Vela satellites to detect gamma rays (expected from nuclear weapons by rival USSR)
o In 1967, found quick flash of gamma rays from extraneous object
▪ Pattern dissimilar to that of emission from nuclear weapon

Gamma ray pattern from extraneous object

• 1997: satellite Bepposax located GRB’s fading afterglow from faraway galaxy
o Already checked all predictable sources, before – ruled out
• Possibility 1: focused energy blasting from hypernova – lasts > 2s
o Hypernova: super supernova
o Collapse of core of supermassive star => black hole
o Material immediately surrounding core falls in => superhot accretion disc
o Disc’s and black hole’s magnetic fields coil around, wound by rapidly spinning disc => away from black hole
o Launches twin beams of matter and energy, equal to total hypernova energy
• Possibility 2: two neutron stars colliding and exploding – lasts < 2s
o 2 massive stars in binary system explode as supernovae => neutron stars orbiting each other
o Massive objects revolving relatively slowly around each other, lose orbital energy by radiating away
gravitational waves
o Get closer, spin faster around each other (GPE gives way to KE), merge in flash
▪ Mass > 2.8 x sun’s => collapse into black hole
▪ Black hole orbited by ultra-dense neutronium from merging star => superhot accretion disc
▪ Intense beam of matter and energy is more compact => shorter GRB
• No foreseen danger to earth
o 2 nearby stars could explode as hypernovae (Eta Carinae and WR104), but neither aimed at us
o No nearby neutron-collisions-to-be
• Observatory Swift to detect GRBs aimed at us (missing most, but still detecting a GRB ~ daily)
o GRBs are birth pangs of black holes

Dark matter

• Rotating spiral galaxies

o Doppler shift => velocity of gas clouds orbiting at edge => mass of galaxy
o Expected gas clouds farther out to be slower – but no, farther gas clouds were faster!
▪ Velocities rose and plateaued with distance from centre => constant gravity throughout disc
• Galaxies must be embedded in halo of unseen mass around galaxies, contributing to extra gravity
o Requires invisible “dark matter” of 5-6 x visible matter
o Galaxies moving too quickly to stay in cluster => must be more gravity, so more mass than meets the eye
• Dark matter: axions
o Axion: subatomic particle with mass; doesn’t interact with normal matter, doesn’t emit light
• Gravitational lensing and Bullet cluster
o Gravitational lensing: light curves through space distorted by gravity (more gravity => more curvature)
o Galaxies have much mass in small space => light from galaxy from other side of cluster, distorted
▪ Amount of bending depends on size of cluster => measure cluster size and location by measuring
distortion of light reaching us
o Bullet cluster is collision of 2 galaxy clusters
▪ Vast amounts of gas b/w galaxies => 2 gas volumes collide and heat up enough to emit x-rays
▪ Galaxies pass through each other, but the gas clouds don’t – they just collide and slow down
▪ Chandra x-ray telescope to see how collision happened (shaped the gas)
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 ▪ Bullet cluster’s gravity distorted b/g galaxy images (optical telescope) => measuring distortion gives
Bullet cluster map
• Including dark matter! Axions (surrounding subclusters) pass through each other, upon
galactic collision => see mass that is not hot gas detected by Chandra
• Dark matter explains how large aggregates of material were able to form in early universe, despite all the blasted
heat/energy (85% is unseen material!)

Big Bang

• Spectra of spiral nebulae => red-shifted => moving away from us => universe expanding
o Maths from empirical data fit this better than static-universe model
o Galaxies farther away moved faster
• Extrapolate time backwards => universe must have started from single superhot superdense point => Big Bang
• Lookback time: speed of light is finite, so distance to object is proportional to amount of time gone past
o Observe distant objects => see events in younger universe
o We can only see till point where universe started becoming transparent (not as far back as actual BB)
▪ 100 000s years after BB
▪ Use lookback time to determine distance => calculate redshift => that starlight would now be micro
wavelengths => cosmic b/g noise

• Also explains current elements in universe

o When universe was dense and hot, only subatomic particles existed
o As universe cooled, these could fuse into heavier elements
o Certain ratios of elements predicted, compared to H – supported by empirical data
o Sizes and structures of large structures correspond to those predicted by BB model
• Space-time itself started off as single point, then expanded
o No space/time before, for anything to happen/exist – end of regression argument
o Explains why farther objects travel faster: fabric itself is stretched more, out there
o Galaxies stationary, just space expanding in b/w
o Every galaxy moving equally away from those surrounding => everything was centre, i.e. BB
▪ No external volume for universe to expand into
▪ Universe literally has no point of origin, no space in it is central – all equal (born 13.82 billion ya)

In 3D
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Dark energy

• Singularity: 13.82 billion ya, all space-time condensed into single point (~infinitely dense – all mass over ~0 volume!)
o Some trigger caused it to explode and expand instantaneously
• On small scales, expansion small enough for gravity to overpower => giant collisions (see above)
o Mass of all galaxies should accumulate to decelerate total universal expansion – but no, expanding even faster!
o Local galaxies will collide and merge => huge elliptical galaxy
• Universal expansion accelerating <= some unknown energy, “dark energy”
o Dark energy: energy per volume space
o Inventory of universe:

• Geometry of the universe: mathematical description of overall curvature of universe

o If enough matter, cosmic expansion will slow and stop, then universe would contract back to single point
o At critical point, enough matter for universal expansion to decelerate and plateau into infinite time
o If not enough matter, universe will continue to expand ever faster
• Seems to be enough dark energy to continue universal expansion indefinitely
o Eventually, space will expand too quickly for us to observe other galaxies by redshift anymore
▪ Neighbouring galaxy would be moving away at speed of light, farther ones even faster
o Since seeing back into past, able to still see galaxies which are now too far from us
• Radius of observable universe: 45 billion lights years away – can still see that far, because was closer in the (seen) past
o Seeing that galaxy as it was 13.8 billion light years or fewer away from us
o This “cosmic horizon” is as far as we can see, but actual universe may be larger by now
o If space simply expanded, this radius should expand as well – but with dark energy and accelerated expansion,
galaxy has to be ever closer for us to see it => observable universe is getting smaller

History of the universe

• Giant particle colliders => early conditions of universe (highest temp’Cs and densities)
o Accelerating at great speeds achieves this collision energy => why large hadron collider at CERN is so long
• At beginning, temp’C was so high, even subatomic particles fell apart into constituent quarks (fundamental particles)
o All 4 basic forces (electromagnetic, gravitational, weak and strong nuclear) unified into 1 superforce
o Unknown what happened in first 10-43s of 1st min. (BB = time 0)
▪ After that, universe expanded and cooled, 4 forces separated, subatomic particles formed (all in 1st s)
▪ 3 mins. later, universe cooled to form atoms in 17 mins.
▪ At 20 mins., universe cooled enough to stop nuclear fusion => 3H:1He
▪ Continued to expand and form galaxies …
• At 380 000 years, electrons bound to nuclei => ions (photons no longer blowing them off)
• 380 millennia => electrons combined with protons + He nuclei => stable neutral atoms (recombination)
o Before recombination, free electrons absorbed light/photons => universe was opaque
o After recombination, photons were free and light travelled => universe became transparent
▪ This light is cosmic b/g microwave radiation – photons travelling since 13.8 billion ya
• Smooth consistency => matter was evenly distributed and at same temp’C, back then
• Cosmic inflation: expansion abruptly accelerated at one point in early universe

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 o Earliest phase changes dumped vast amounts of energy into universal expansion
o Explains smooth consistency at time of recombination: expansion smoothed out any lumps
o Tiny fluctuations in background radiation <= space-time perturbations stretched out by inflation
▪ Dense spots => seeds for matter aggregates => first stars (400 000 000 years post-BB)
▪ First stars => galaxies => galaxy clusters => galaxy superclusters

Deep time

• Adams and Laughlin’s ‘The 5 Ages of the Universe’

Epoch Events Dominant Object(s)
1. Primordial era Big Bang to formation of first stars Dispersed plasma
2. Stelliferous era (now) Star lifecycles Stars
3. Degenerate era Nebular gas will run out, big stars will die, galaxies will redden (leftover White and brown dwarfs,
objects supported by degeneracy pressure – except black holes) neutron stars, black holes
• Binary white dwarfs merge => explode into supernovae
• Binary neutron star merge => gamma-ray bursts
• Binary brown dwarfs merge => low-mass star
Protons will decay => all matter will disintegrate
4. Black-hole era Only black holes left, emitting Hawking radiation => evaporating Black holes
• Black holes slowly leak mass (more massive => slower leak)
• Particle and energy emission from a black hole accelerates
• Eventually go out with light flare – only energy source left
5. Dark era Negligible subatomic particles and photons leftover Nil

• Alternative event, preventing dark era

o If dark energy’s influence gets stronger, universe will accelerate faster, and cosmic horizon will shrink faster
until smaller than subatomic particle => Big Rip
• Possible multiverse
• Possible drop to lower quantum state => physical laws rewritten
o Part of cycle of universal rebirths?

© Devahuti C.