UNIVERSE

1
 UNIVERSE

• The universe is the whole body of things and

phenomena observed or postulated.
• The universe can be defined as everything
that exists in especially all physical matter,
including the stars, planets, galaxies, etc.

2
UNIVERSE
• The universe started with a "Big Bang" about
13.75 – 15 billion years ago and has been
expanding ever since. The universe has no
centre and this means that it expands in all
directions.

3
4
UNIVERSE
• Astronomers and physicists have found that all
we see in the Universe (planets, stars, galaxies)
accounts for only 4% of it.
• There are not so many visible things, which
compose our Universe. Observations indicate
that most of the Universe is made of invisible
substances that do not emit electromagnetic
radiation. These substances are known as “dark
matter” and “dark energy”. Dark matter forms
about 23% and dark energy forms approximately
73% of the Universe.

5
6
 Star
is a glowing ball of gas where a nuclear reaction
takes place to produce energy and because of this
reaction; stars emit light with different
wavelengths.

7
 STARS
• Different cultures give different names to the
stars but in modern usage most of the star
names have Arabic origin and come from the
medieval Islamic astronomers; for example,
Denep means tail, Fomalhout means the
mouth of the whale.

8
 STARS
• A star catalogue is an astronomical catalogue
that lists stars with their position for a specific
time and includes other specifications such as
distance, magnitude, colour, spectrum, etc.
• In astronomy, the catalogue numbers refer to
almost all stars but in celestial navigation, we
use the names of the stars.

9
 CONSTELLATIONS

• Constellations
are just
patterns of
stars as seen
from the Earth.
Different
cultures created
different shapes
and named
them.
10
 CONSTELLATIONS
• The International Astronomical Union (IAU)
defined 88 official constellations.

11
 GALAXY
• A galaxy is formed of stars, gas, and dust
which are held together by gravity.
• The smallest galaxies may contain only a few
hundred thousand stars, while the largest
galaxies have thousands of billions of stars.
Galaxies are classified or grouped by their
shapes as elliptical, spiral and irregular

12
GALAXY

13
 "Pillars of Creation" i

NEBULA

• A nebula is a
cloud
composed of
dust,
hydrogen,
helium and
other ionised
gases.
• Nebulas are
often star-
forming
regions.
14
 Super clusters

• Super clusters
are large
groups of
smaller galaxy
groups and
clusters and
they are
among the
largest known
structures of
the universe.
15
A Planet is defined as a celestial body that
(a) is in orbit around the Sun,
(b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to Planets
overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a
hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape,
and
(c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

16
 Satellite
• A Satellite, or moon, is a celestial body that
orbits a planet.
• The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth.

17
 Asteroids and Meteoroids

• Asteroids, which are also called 'minor planets',

are objects ranging in size up to 1000 km, most of
which lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
• A comet is a body made of rock and ice, typically
a few kilometres in diameter, which orbits the
Sun. Comets may pass by the Sun only once or go
through the Solar System periodically. The
current number of known comets is: 3,743

18
Comet McNaught
19
Comet From 8 km

20
 Asteroids and Meteoroids

• Meteoroids are solid objects moving in space, of

a size considerably smaller than an asteroid and
considerably larger than an atom or a molecule.
• Meteor is the name given to a meteoroid that
enters the atmosphere. The friction will cause
meteor to glow and usually burn up before hitting
the surface. Meteors are also called "shooting
stars”.
• A meteorite is a meteoroid that survives passage
through the atmosphere and hits the ground.
21
22
 Gravitation
• Universal gravitation is described as “Every
object in the universe attracts every other
object in the universe with a gravitational
force. The magnitude of the gravitational force
between two objects is directly proportional
to the product of their masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the separation
between their centres.

23
• ASTRONOMICAL UNIT (A. U.)
Distances
• 1 AU is the mean distance between the Earth
and the Sun. 1 AU = 1.5 10e11 m or 150
million Km. (92,960,000 miles)
• A LIGHT YEAR is the distance light travels in
one year. Speed of light: 3.0x10⁸
meters/second. One year has 3.16x10⁷
seconds 1 ltyr = 9.48x10e15 m (5.88 x 10e12)
mile)
• PARSEC is 3.3 light-years.

24
25
26
 Distances
• The first transatlantic radio broadcast was
made by Marconi from Cape Cod to England
in 1903. Since radio waves travel at the speed
of light, this broadcasts may reach only 4.600
stars. (Estimation David Palmer NASA)

27
 Distances
• Suppose we imagine the Sun to be the size of
a grapefruit. How far away are the nearest
stars?
• a. About 3 football fields.
• b. About 3 km.
• c. About 300 km.
• d. About 3,000 km.
• e. About 30,000 km.
28
 Distances
• Suppose we imagine the Sun to be the size of
a grapefruit. How far away are the nearest
stars?
• a. About 3 football fields.
• b. About 3 km.
• c. About 300 km.
• d. About 3,000 km.
• e. About 30,000 km.
29
 Distances

•
Human Meters
•
• Earth® Thousands of km
Solar System AU's to 10's of AU
•
Nearest stars Few millions ltyr
• Galaxy 100,000 ltyr
Local Group Few billion ltyr
•
• Observable Universe 14 billion ltyr
30
• Which of the following statements does not make
sense?
• a. It's about 4 light-years from here to Alpha Centauri.
• b. It will take me light-years to finish this homework
assignment.
• c. A lightyear is about 10 trillion (1013) km.
• d. This spaceship can travel one lightsecond per hour.
• e. The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 lightyears
in diameter.

31
By Edwin Hubble in the 1920's:
Almost every galaxy outside the local group is
moving away from us. The farther away the
galaxy, the faster it's moving away
• The entire universe is expanding

32
 Star Size Comparison HD.wmv

Credit:Wikipedia 33
When you look out into the universe,
you are looking back in time!
• If you look at an object that is 1,000 light-
years away, you see it:
• a. as it was 1,000 years ago.
• b. as it was 1,000 light-years ago.
• c. as it is right now, but it appears 1,000 times
dimmer.
• d. as it looked to your ancestors 1,000 years
ago.
34
When you look out into the universe,
you are looking back in time!
• If you look at an object that is 1,000 light-
years away, you see it:
• a. as it was 1,000 years ago.
• b. as it was 1,000 light-years ago.
• c. as it is right now, but it appears 1,000 times
dimmer.
• d. as it looked to your ancestors 1,000 years
ago.
35
 Magnitude (Kadir-Parlaklık)
• The relative brightness of celestial bodies is
indicated by a scale of stellar magnitudes.
• Apparent magnitude is the apparent or the
visual brightness of a body as we see from the
Earth. Generally, the visible spectrum is used
as a basis for the apparent magnitude.

36
Credit: astro.unl.edu

37
 38
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/the-stellar-magnitude-system/
 Magnitude

• A star named Betelgeuse has much higher

absolute magnitude (−6.01) than the Sun
(4.83), because it is bigger than the Sun and
has much more luminosity, but apparent
(visual) magnitude for Betelgeuse is 0.3-1.2
(some bodies have variable magnitudes) and
that for the Sun is −26.7.

39
 Magnitude

• In celestial navigation, apparent magnitudes are

used. The formula for magnitude, where F is the
observed flux and Fx reference flux, is;
• m = -2.512 x log (F/F standart)
• m = the magnitude
F = is the flux from our star
F standart = is the flux from a standard star
• Flux is basically the amount of energy arriving at
earth from the star
• In modern use, the star Vega defines magnitude
0.0
40
 Magnitude log(1000) = 3
log(100) = 2
log(10) = 1
log(1) = 0
log(.1) = -1
• m = -2.512 log(1) log(.01) = -2
log(.001) = -3
m = -2.512 * 0
m=0

• When a star has the same flux as the standard

star, its magnitude is zero.
• A negative magnitude would be brighter than
the standard star.

41
• From the Earth, a first magnitude star is seen as 100
times brighter than the sixth magnitude star. In the
magnitude scale, an increase of one unit corresponds
to a decrease in brightness by a factor of ≈2.512. The
brightness ratio formula is equal to 2.512[m1-m2].
• As an example, the magnitudes of Kochab and Sirius
are 2.1 and -1.5 respectively. The difference of the
magnitudes as an absolute value is 3.6. After applying
it as the power of 2.512 (2.5123.6), the result is 27.55
and this is the brightness ratio of these two stars.
Therefore, Sirius is 27.55 times brighter than Kochab.

42
 Magnitude
• The human eye can detect stars up to sixth or
seventh magnitude on a dark, clear night far
from city lights.
• Stars with magnitude 1.50 or brighter ones are
popularly named “first magnitude” stars.
Those between 1.51 and 2.50 are named
“second magnitude stars”; between 2.51 and
3.50 are named “third magnitude” stars, etc.

43
 Magnitude

• What is the ratio in brightness between the

Sun and the full moon?
• 2.512x = variation in brightness
• The apparent magnitude of the Sun is -26.74,
and the mean apparent magnitude of the full
moon is -12.74. The full moon is the fainter of
the two objects, while the Sun is the brighter.
• Difference in magnitude = 14
• Variation in Brightness = 2.512¹⁴ = 398,359
44
 Magnitude

➢Sirius: - 1.6
➢Canopus: - 0.9
➢Full moon: - 12.6
➢Sun: - 26.7
➢Venus: - 4.4
• You may see a magnitude 6 star without a
telescope.
From Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes. 45
 Apparent and true motion

• Every object in the universe is in constant motion.

• Although this motion in the universe is real, what
we see is the relative motion. On the Earth, it is
impossible to observe the true motion of the
bodies because of the continuous movement of
the Earth.
• A human being can only perceive the relative
motion.
• This relative motion is named apparent motion.
46
 The Celestial Sphere

• The celestial sphere is a fictitious sphere for

celestial navigation purposes.
• At the centre of this sphere, the Earth is assumed
to be stationary.
• The radius of the celestial sphere is not important
or it is assumed to be infinite.
• Celestial bodies are projected on the inner
surface of this sphere regardless of their
distances from the Earth.
• The perspective in the celestial sphere diagram is
different then what we see from the Earth.
47
The Celestial Sphere

48
 The Celestial Sphere

• The axis of the Earth (the N and S pole axis)

coincide with the axis of the celestial sphere and
the poles are named celestial north pole (CNP)
and celestial south pole (CSP).
• The celestial equator is the primary great circle
of the celestial sphere and it is the intersection of
the extended plane of the equator and the
celestial sphere. Each point on the celestial
equator is 90 degrees away from the celestial
poles.

49
 The Celestial Sphere

• The celestial sphere rotates about its axis,

which passes through the celestial poles, and
all celestial bodies appear to revolve around
the Earth once every sidereal day on a path
that is parallel to the celestial equator.
• This daily routine is named apparent daily
motion or diurnal motion.
• Sidereal means with/related to the stars,
determined by or from the stars.

50
51
52
SOLAR SYSTEM

53
SOLAR SYSTEM
How was the Solar System formed?
M42 The Orion Nebula
➢5 billion years ago the
Solar System was a nebula
(cloud of gas and dust)
➢Gravity pulled the
particles together until the
heat rose enough to form
the sun and then the
planets.

54
SOLAR SYSTEM

• The Milky Way galaxy contains our solar system. The

Sun orbits the Milky Way every 230 million years.
• The closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way is the
Andromeda. It is 2.2 million light-years away from us.
• Andromeda is approaching our galaxy at a rate of
670,000 miles per hour. Five billion years from now,
it will collide with our Milky Way galaxy.

55
SOLAR SYSTEM
• The Sun

• The Sun is the star of our solar system.

• The solar planets revolve around the Sun on their
orbits.
• While revolving around the Sun, planets also rotate on
their axes. The poles of the planets are the extremities
of their axes. The gravitational force of the Sun holds
the entire solar system together.

56
 Planets of the Solar System
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth (That’s where we live)
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
My very educated mother just served us nachos

57
Relative sizes of the planets
58
 TERRESTRIAL PLANETS

▪ The four planets closest to the sun which are

made up of solid rock, and, because of their
size and composition, are classified as Earth-
like (terrestrial).

▪ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/

59
Mercury
•Closest to sun
•Smallest Terrestrial
Planet
•First time viewed was in
1974 (Mariner 10)
•Surface similar to Earth’s
moon

60
 Venus
▪2nd Planet from sun
▪Called Earth’s twin
because similar in size and
density to Earth
▪Thick dense clouds of
sulfuric acid
▪Atmosphere mostly
made up of CO2

61
Earth

62
 Mars
•4th planet from sun
•Early info. came from Viking
probe in 1976
•“Red planet” because of high
concentration of iron oxide
•Many craters and channels
carved from water in Mars’
past are on the surface.

63
 THE GASEOUS GIANTS
▪ Huge low-density planets composed mostly of
gases.
▪ Much of our early information came from the
Voyager space probes in 1977.
▪ The Hubble Telescope has improved our
knowledge of these planets.

64
 Jupiter
•Largest planet (11/2
larger than all planets
combined→5th from sun
•Made up mostly of
hydrogen and helium
gases
•Surrounded by strong
magnetic and
gravitational fields

65
 Saturn
•Second largest planet, but
lowest density
•6th planet from sun
•Similar composition to Jupiter
•Circled by several broad rings
made up of ice particles,
specks of dust, and rocks

66
 Uranus

•7th Planet from

the sun
•Atmosphere is
composed of
hydrogen, helium,
and methane→
Methane gives it
a blue/green
color

67
 Neptune
•Similar in
atmosphere/structure to
Uranus
•Normally the 8th planet
from the sun, but
sometimes is farther from
the sun than Pluto

68
 Pluto and Charon
•Dwarf planet • Pluto and Charon
•Small and composed of
rock and ice
•Not considered either a
terrestrial or gaseous
giant planet

69
 Apparent retrograde (backward)
motion of the planets
• If we look at the sky, at the same time on successive
nights, we will generally notice that the planets have
moved a little to the east compared with previous
day.
• As seen from the Earth, some planets occasionally
seem to have reversed their motion or have moved
backwards for a while compared to the background
stars, before continuing in their apparent direction.

70
71
72
73
74
75
 Rotation of the Earth

• The Earth rotates once each day about its axis, from the
west towards the east. As viewed from the Polaris or
Celestial North Pole, the Earth rotates counter-clockwise.
• The Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5° from the vertical of
the orbit plane. The Earth's axis points in the same
direction relative to the stars.
• The north of the axis (The North Pole) points towards the
star named Polaris. The Earth rotates once every 23 hours
56 minutes and 4 seconds relative to the stars (sidereal)
and 24 hours relative to the Sun. The period of the
rotation is the basis of the calendar day.
76
 Rotation of the Earth

• At the equator, the circumference of the Earth is

40,075 kilometres and if we divide it by the duration
of the day relative to the stars (23h56m04s), we will
find the rotational speed of the Earth as 1,674 km/hr
(903.8 NM).
• What is the rotation speed at poles?

77
 Revolution of the Earth

• The earth revolves about the sun once each year. The
direction of the revolution is counter clockwise as
seen from Polaris.
• The period of the revolution is the basis of the
calendar year.
• In a planetary orbit, aphelion is the point that has
the greatest distance from the Sun and perihelion is
the closest point to the Sun. The imaginary line
joining perihelion and aphelion is named the line of
apsides.
78
79
 Revolution of the Earth

• When the Earth is closest to the Sun, around the fourth

of January, which is summer in the Southern
Hemisphere, the distance to the Sun is 147,098,074 km
(0.98au).
• When the Earth is farthest away from the Sun during the
summer in the Northern Hemisphere around the fourth
of July, the distance is 152,097,701 km (1.02au).
• The Earth revolves at different speeds during the year,
slowest at aphelion and fastest at perihelion. The mean
speed of the Earth on its orbit is 107,208 km/h.
80
 Revolution of the Earth

• When the Earth is at perihelion; the Sun appears

largest, 32.6 of arc minutes in diameter.
• At aphelion, the Sun’s apparent diameter is a
minimum of 31.5 arc minutes.
• For celestial navigation purposes, sun’s average
diameter is accepted as 32 arc minutes.

81
 Ecliptic

• The ecliptic is the path of the apparent motion of the

Sun on the celestial sphere as seen from the Earth.
• It is an imaginary plane passing through the centre of
the Earth and the Sun. This phenomenon is very
important because it is the reason for the seasonal
changes.

82
During the
spring and
autumn
equinox, the
Sun is directly
over the
equator. The
word
“equinox,”
means “equal
nights,” and
during the
equinoxes, the
lengths of day
and night are
approximately
equal all over
the Earth

83
Night and
day during
equinox

84
• Solstice occurs twice each year as the Sun
reaches its highest or lowest position relative
to the celestial equator on the celestial
sphere.
• In the northern hemisphere, during the
summer solstice the Sun appears to be over
the latitude 23.5°N and in the winter solstice
over the latitude 23.5°S.

85
86
 Movements of the axis

• The Earth's rotation axis is not pointing a fixed point in

space. While it is rotating, it has also other
movements.
• First one, the precession that is caused by the
gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun on the
Earth's equatorial bulge, causing the Earth's axis to
move on a circular pattern with a period of 26,000
years. Because of this movement, Polaris will not
always be over the North Pole, 6,000 years later Deneb
and in 13,000 years, later Vega will be approximately
over the North Celestial Pole. The period of this cycle is
26,000 years and Polaris will once again be the Pole
Star.
87
 Movements of
the axis
The other
movement of the
axis is nutation.
Nutation means, a
small irregularity in
the precession of the
Earth’s axis.
Nutation is a small
oscillation, with a
period of 18.6 years
and an amplitude of
9.2 seconds of arc.
88
 First Point of Aries

• A fixed reference point in space is required to

measure the angular distances.
• The point where ecliptic and the celestial equator
intersect each other at the spring equinox (the
vernal equinox) is named the First Point of Aries
and this point is chosen as a reference point.
• Symbol of the first point of Aries is γ. In celestial
navigation, Aries is an important reference and
positions of the navigational stars are computed
by using the position of the First Point of Aries
89
90
The vernal equinox is sometimes called the first
point of Aries (γ is the symbol ) because, when the
name was given, the Sun entered the constellation
Aries, (the ram) at this time. 91
 Zodiac
• The zodiac is a circular band of the sky
extending 8° on each side of the ecliptic.
• The navigational planets and the Moon are
within these limits. The zodiac is divided into
12 sections of 30° each, each section being
given the name and symbol (“sign”) of a
constellation.

92
93
 Eclipse

• The eclipse means, “To fail to appear”. In

astronomy it means, a short period when all or a
part of a celestial body becomes dark, because of
its position of in relation to another body.
• When the Moon passes between the Earth and
the Sun, on the Earth some places do not get or
particularly get the light of the Sun because of
the shadow of the Moon. This is named a solar
eclipse. When the moon enters the Earth’s
shadow, a lunar eclipse occurs.

94
95
 The Moon

• The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. The

Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth with
respect to the fixed stars about once every 27.3 days
and this is named the sidereal period.
• The time required for the Moon to move to the same
position as seen by an observer on earth is named the
synodic period and it is 29.5 days.
• Since the Moon rotates with the same period, which it
revolves around the Earth (synchronous rotation), the
same side of the Moon is always turned towards the
Earth.

96
97
Symbols

98
Symbols

99
Symbols

100
 Next week we will study;
• Time and the Calendar; From a navigational
standpoint, Solar, lunar day and time,
• Time and Arc, Time zones, UTC, ZD, ZT, LMT,
International Date Line, radio dissemination of
time signals.

101