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October 24, 2010December 24, 2015 by Matt Williams

Cosmology

Planck Time — The Universe. So far, no duplicates found@

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Ever wonder why we are here, how and why the universe that we inhabit came to be, and what our place is in it? If so, than in addition to philosophy, religion, and esotericism, you might be interested in the field of Cosmology. This is, in the strictest sense, the study of the universe in its totality, as it is today, and what humanity’s place is in it. Although a relatively recent invention from a purely scientific point of view, it has a long history which embraces several fields over the course of many thousand years and countless cultures.

In western science, the earliest recorded examples of cosmology are to be found in ancient Babylon (circa 1900 – 1200 BCE), and India (1500 -1200 BCE). In the former case, the creation myth recovered in the EnûmaEliš held that the world existed in a “plurality of heavens and earths” that were round in shape and revolved around the “cult place of the deity”. This account bears a strong resemblance to the Biblical account of creation as found in Genesis. In the latter case, Brahman priests espoused a theory in which the universe was timeless, cycling between expansion and total collapse, and coexisted with an infinite number of other universes, mirroring modern cosmology.

The next great contribution came from the Greeks and Arabs. The Greeks were the first to stumble onto the concept of a universe that was made up of two elements: tiny seeds (known as atoms) and void. They also suggested, and gravitated between, both a geocentric and heliocentric model. The Arabs further elaborated on this while in Europe, scholars stuck with a model that was a combination of classical theory and Biblical canon, reflecting the state of knowledge in medieval Europe. This remained in effect until Copernicus and Galileo came onto the scene, reintroducing the west to a heliocentric universe while scientists like Kepler and Sir Isaac Newton refined it with their discovery of elliptical orbits and gravity.

The 20th century was a boon for cosmology. Beginning with Einstein, scientists now believed in an infinitely expanding universe based on the rules of relativity. Edwin Hubble then demonstrated the scale of the universe by proving that “spiral nebulae” observed in the night sky were actually other galaxies. By showing how they were red-shifted, he also demonstrated that they were moving away, proving that the universe really was expanding. This in turn, led to the Big Bang theory which put a starting point to the universe and a possible end (echoes of the Braham expansion/collapse model).

Today, the field of cosmology is thriving thanks to ongoing research, debate and continuous discovery, thanks in no small part to ongoing efforts to explore the known universe.

We have written many articles about cosmology for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the galaxy, and here are some interesting facts about stars.

If you’d like more info on cosmology, the best place to look is NASA’s Official Website. I also recommend you check out the website for the Hubble Space Telescope.

We’ve recorded many episodes of Astronomy Cast, including one about Hubble. Check it out, Episode 88: The Hubble Space Telescope.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology#cite_note-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%C3%BBma_Eli%C5%A1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_cosmology
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9988-instant-expert-cosmology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_shift

October 15, 2010January 7, 2016 by Tega Jessa

Why Can We See the Moon During the Day?

We all know the basics of the Diurnal Cycle – day and night, sunrise and sunset. And we are all aware that during the day, the Sun is the most luminous object in the sky, to the point that it completely obscures the stars. And at night, the Moon (when it is visible) is the most luminous object, sometimes to the point that it can make gazing at the Milky Way and Deep-Sky Objects more difficult.

This dichotomy of night and day, darkness and light, are why the Moon and the Sun were often worshiped together by ancient cultures. But at times, the Moon is visible even in the daytime. We’ve all seen it, hanging low in the sky, a pale impression against a background of blue? But just what accounts for this? How is it that we can see the brightest object in the night sky when the Sun is still beaming overhead?

Continue reading “Why Can We See the Moon During the Day?”

October 8, 2010May 11, 2017 by Jerry Coffey

What is Gravitational Force?

Why Do Planets Orbit the Sun — The Solar System

Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is used to explain gravitational force. This law states that every massive particle in the universe attracts every other massive particle with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This general, physical law was derived from observations made by induction. Another way, more modern, way to state the law is: ‘every point mass attracts every single other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses’.

Gravitational force surrounds us. It is what decides how much we weigh and how far a basketball will travel when thrown before it returns to the surface. The gravitational force on Earth is equal to the force the Earth exerts on you. At rest, on or near the surface of the Earth, the gravitational force equals your weight. On a different astronomical body like Venus or the Moon, the acceleration of gravity is different than on Earth, so if you were to stand on a scale, it would show you that you weigh a different amount than on Earth.

When two objects are gravitational locked, their gravitational force is centered in an area that is not at the center of either object, but at the barycenter of the system. The principle is similar to that of a see-saw. If two people of very different weights sit on opposite sides of the balance point, the heavier one must sit closer to the balance point so that they can equalize each others mass. For instance, if the heavier person weighs twice as much as the lighter one, they must sit at only half the distance from the fulcrum. The balance point is the center of mass of the see-saw, just as the barycenter is the balance point of the Earth-Moon system. This point that actually moves around the Sun in the orbit of the Earth, while the Earth and Moon each move around the barycenter, in their orbits.

Each system in the galaxy, and presumably, the universe, has a barycenter. The push and pull of the gravitational force of the objects is what keeps everything in space from crashing into one another.

We have written many articles about gravitational force for Universe Today. Here’s an article about gravity in space, and here’s an article about the discovery of gravity.

If you’d like more info on Gravity, check out The Constant Pull of Gravity: How Does It Work?, and here’s a link to Gravity on Earth Versus Gravity in Space: What’s the Difference?.

We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Gravity. Listen here, Episode 102: Gravity.

September 26, 2010December 24, 2015 by Tega Jessa

What Galaxy Do We Live In?

Artist's impression of The Milky Way Galaxy. Based on current estimates and exoplanet data, it is believed that there could be tens of billions of habitable planets out there. Credit: NASA

If you are not an astronomy enthusiast you not have thought much about what galaxy do we live in. So depending on that the answer may surprise you. If you know anything about galaxies you know that they are groupings of stars that number in the hundreds of billions. The most famous is the Milky Way. It is from this galaxy that we even have the term. The simple point is that the Earth is part of the Milky Way even though if we see it in the sky it looks like we are observing it from the outside. Why is that? To understand you need to know exactly where we live in neighborhood of the Milky Way Galaxy.

As we are part of the solar system Earth pretty much follows the path of the sun as it goes through its own orbit around the galaxy. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy type so it has arms sort of like an octopus. The Sun is located near the outward tip of the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way. This makes Earth about 28,000 light years from the galactic core of our home galaxy.

The Solar System also has a galactic year that it follows. It takes around 200 million to 250 million years for the solar system to orbit the Sun. Another indicator of our position is where the galactic equator. While our star system is considered to be on the outskirts of the Milky Way this is only an estimate. It is believed that the Milky Way is larger than first estimated. There is also suspicion that our galaxy is in the process of absorbing other smaller galaxies. However, there is not enough empirical evidence available to support the claim.

So what would be so important about knowing what part of the galaxy we live in? One reason is space exploration. Some time in the future mankind may find a way to achieve faster than light space travel. This can provide a new set of challenges for engineers and astronomers to tackle. For example how would an astronaut keep from getting lost in space? Detailed mapping and computer programming in the future could help galactic wayfarers know where they are going and more importantly how to get home.

The other reason is that it never hurts to know our place in the scheme of things. Just thinking of the challenge of finding earth if we were so far way helps us to understand how truly vast the universe is.

We have written many articles about the Milky Way galaxy for Universe Today. Here are some facts about the Milky Way, and here’s an article about the closest galaxy to the Milky Way.

If you’d like more info on galaxies, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases on Galaxies, and here’s NASA’s Science Page on Galaxies.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about galaxies. Listen here, Episode 97: Galaxies.

Sources: SEDS, Daily Galaxy

September 18, 2009December 24, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Space Wallpapers

Here are some amazing space wallpapers. If you want to make one of these your computer desktop wallpaper, just click on the image. That will take you to a much larger version of the image. You can then right-click on the image and choose, “Set as Desktop Background”. That will make any of these space wallpapers your desktop background.

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This is one of the most famous space photographs every taken. It’s called “Earthrise”, and it was captured by the crew of Apollo 8 as they were orbiting around the Moon. They saw the Earth rising over the Moon’s horizon and captured this amazing photograph.

NASA created this amazing wallpaper as part of its celebration for Sun-Earth day in 2008. You can see the Sun shining just outside of the photograph above.

Almost 1000 years ago, a star detonated in the sky as a supernova, shining brilliantly for a few days. After it faded away, it was replaced by this amazing nebula.

This amazing space wallpaper shows active star formation in the Eagle Nebula. These newly forming stars are blasting out huge clouds of gas and dust into space.

Here’s a beautiful image of Saturn captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during a time that it was positioned over the planet’s pole.

We have got lots of image galleries here in Universe Today. Here are some Earth wallpapers, and here are some Venus wallpapers.

You can also download some cool space wallpapers from NASA’s JPL, and here are some wallpapers from Hubble.

You might also want to try listening to an episode of Astronomy Cast. Here’s an episode just about the Hubble Space Telescope.

September 1, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

After Loss of Lunar Orbiter, India Looks to Mars Mission

India Moon Mission — Artist concept of Chandrayaan-1 orbiting the moon. Credit: ISRO

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After giving up on re-establishing contact with the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair announced the space agency hopes to launch its first mission to Mars sometime between 2013 and 2015. Nair said the termination of Chandrayaan-1, although sad, is not a setback and India will move ahead with its plans for the Chandrayaan-2 mission to land an unmanned rover on the moon’s surface to prospect for chemicals, and in four to six years launch a robotic mission to Mars.

“We have given a call for proposal to different scientific communities,” Nair told reporters. “Depending on the type of experiments they propose, we will be able to plan the mission. The mission is at conceptual stage and will be taken up after Chandrayaan-2.”

On the decision to quickly pull the plug on Chandrayaan-1, Nair said, “There was no possibility of retrieving it. (But) it was a great success. We could collect a large volume of data, including more than 70,000 images of the moon. In that sense, 95 percent of the objective was completed.”

Contact with Chandrayaan-1 may have been lost because its antenna rotated out of direct contact with Earth, ISRO officials said. Earlier this year, the spacecraft lost both its primary and back-up star sensors, which use the positions of stars to orient the spacecraft.

The loss of Chandrayaan-1 comes less than a week after the spacecraft’s orbit was adjusted to team up with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for a Bi-static radar experiment. During the maneuver, Chandrayaan-1 fired its radar beam into Erlanger Crater on the moon’s north pole. Both spacecraft listened for echoes that might indicate the presence of water ice – a precious resource for future lunar explorers. The results of that experiment have not yet been released.

Chandrayaan-1 craft was designed to orbit the moon for two years, but lasted 315 days. It will take about 1,000 days until it crashes to the lunar surface and is being tracked by the U.S. and Russia, ISRO said.

The Chandrayaan I had 11 payloads, including a terrain-mapping camera designed to create a three-dimensional atlas of the moon. It is also carrying mapping instruments for the European Space Agency, radiation-measuring equipment for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and two devices for NASA, including the radar instrument to assess mineral composition and look for ice deposits. India launched its first rocket in 1963 and first satellite in 1975. The country’s satellite program is one of the largest communication systems in the world.

Sources: New Scientist, Xinhuanet