Adelaide High School

Space Science Year 10 ESS

The Origin of the Universe

The Universe
The universe is made up of everything that exists (stars, planets, black
holes etc.)
We can observe the universe from Earth, however it is so big, light from
only the closest portion of the universe has had time to get here!
This universe that we can see is known as the observable universe.
The Universe
The universe is made of galaxies – systems of billions of stars held together
by gravity

These galaxies are made up of star (solar) systems – a star with bodies
around it including satellites, planets, moons, asteroids, etc.
The Universe

The age of the universe is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old.

This estimate is based on information scientists have collected about

the growth of the universe.
Moving Apart

The moon is moving away from the Earth

at a rate of 4cm per year.

The Earth is also moving away from the

sun.

We also know most galaxies are moving

away from each other.
Why?
The Big Bang Theory
The scientific conclusion is that all matter in the universe originated from
one single location and expanded outwards
The Origin of the Universe

Single, hyper-hot dense area of mass known as plasma.

The Origin of the Universe
1. Universe started as a single, hyper-hot dense area of mass known
as plasma.

2. It expanded out, creating

particles, stars, galaxies

3. It was cooling down in

the process.

4. Simple atoms were able

to form
Timeline of the Universe
Big bang occurred 0 seconds after Big Bang (of course)

Elementary particles appear 3 seconds after the Big Bang

Atoms did not appear until 380,000 years after the Big Bang

Stars did not form until 200 million years after the Big Bang

Our solar system formed 9.3 billion years after the Big Bang

We are currently existing 13.8 (14) billion years after the Big Bang
Evidence for the Big Bang Theory

1. The Doppler Effect (Redshift)

- Edwin Hubble used telescopes to find there were
galaxies speeding away from us in all directions

2. Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)

Doppler Effect
 Doppler Effect
When a source is moving closer to an observer, the wavelength gets smaller
When the source is moving away from an observer, the wavelength gets
larger
Doppler Effect
When this happens with light, shorter wavelengths look blue and larger
wavelengths look red – the light has shifted to the red wavelength
Redshift
Redshift
The bigger the Redshift, the further away a galaxy is
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
1.Electromagnetic radiation leftover from when Universe was cool
enough to form the first atoms

2.First discovered by scientists who were

getting “noise” signals
through their telescope
- Thought it was because of bird poop
- Turns out it wasn’t
- Won a Nobel prize
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
3. CMB reaches Earth from every direction and is observed everywhere in
the universe
- Has very similar wavelength and intensity, indicating it came from the
same source
- Only explanation is if it came from a single point/origin