Origins

How and when did the:

universe form?
solar system / Earth form?
Moon form?
What were early Earth
conditions?

How Do We Know?
 Origin of the Universe
Big Bang
occurred 15 billion years ago
model for the beginning of the universe
Building a Universe

- infinitely dense point not

governed by our physical
laws or
time

- all matter and energy

contained
in one point

http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/courses/v1001/7.html
Building a Universe

- instantaneous filling of
space with all matter

http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/courses/v1001/7.html
 Edwin Hubble

Universe is continuously expanding

Galaxys velocity is proportional to its distance

(galaxies that are twice as far from us move twice
as fast)
taken every galaxy the same amount of time to move
from a common starting position to its current position
 Hubbles Evidence

Doppler shifting - wavelength emitted by something moving away

from us is shifted to a lower frequency
Sound of a fire truck siren - pitch of the siren is higher as the fire
truck moves towards you, and lower as it moves away from you
Visible wavelengths emitted by objects moving away from us are
shifted towards the red part of the visible spectrum
The faster they move away from us, the more they are redshifted.
Thus, redshift is a reasonable way to measure the speed of an
object (this, by the way, is the principal by which radar guns
measure the speed of a car or baseball)
When we observe the redshift of galaxies outside our local group,
every galaxy appears to be moving away from us - universe is
expanding.
 Evidence for Big Bang

Red shift - as light from distant galaxies approach earth there is

an increase of space between earth and the galaxy, which
leads to wavelengths being stretched

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, discovered a noise of

extraterrestrial origin that came from all directions at once -
radiation left over from the Big Bang

In June 1995, scientists detected primordial helium in the far

reaches of the universe - consistent with an important aspect
of the Big Bang theory that a mixture of hydrogen and helium
was created at the beginning of the universe
Building
10-43 s - gravity separates from
a other forces - 10-28 centimeters
10-35 to 10-32 s - fundamental
Universe particles - quarks and electrons -
softball
10-6 s - quarks combine into
protons and neutrons - solar
system
1 s - electromagnetic and weak
nuclear forces separate
3 minutes - protons and neutrons
combine into atomic nuclei

105 years - electrons join nuclei to

make atoms; light is emitted
105-109 years - matter collapses
into clouds, making galaxies and
Orion Nebula - http://stardate.utexas.edu/resources/ssguide/planet_form.html
When Did the Universe Form?
10 to 20 billion years ago
(15)

How do we know?
spreading (Red Shift)

know distances, rates of

retreat, relative positions

pervasive background
radiation of 2.7C above
absolute zero
afterglow of the Big Bang

Orion Nebula - http://stardate.utexas.edu/resources/ssguide/planet_form.html

 How old is the universe?

Speed x time = distance

(distance of a particular galaxy) / (that galaxys
velocity) = (time)
or
4.6 x 10^26 cm / 1 x 10^9 cm/sec = 4.6 x 10^17
sec
~ 15 billion years
 Features of Our Solar
System
in a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy
Sun
9 planets
101 known moons (satellites)
a tremendous number of asteroids
most orbit the Sun between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter
millions of comets and meteorites
interplanetary dust and gases
Relative Sizes of the
Sun and Planets
Solar System
Configuration
Origin of Our Solar System
Solar nebula theory
cloud of gases and
dust formed a
rotating disk
condensed and
collapsed due
to gravity
forming solar nebula
with an embryonic Sun
surrounded by a rotating
cloud
 Embryonic Sun and Rotating
Cloud
planetesimals have formed in the inner
solar system

large eddies of gas and dust remain far

from the protosun
 The Planets
Terrestrial Jovian Planets
Planets Jupiter
Mercury
Saturn
Venus Uranus
Earth Neptune
Mars large,
small, composed composed of
of rock, with hydrogen,
metal cores helium,
ammonia,
Pluto? methane,