The Universe: Big Bang Theory and Expanding Universe

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In this post we will study about The Universe - Big Bang - Redshift and Blueshift.
Very few questions are asked in prelims [time to benefit ratio is too low] from this section.
You can ignore these concepts if you found them too scientific.
The Universe
Universe ==> all existing matter and space.

Tiniest subatomic particles to galactic super-clusters.
The universe is incomprehensively large in size and dimension.
Made up of 100 billion galaxies, each comprising an average of 100 billion of stars.
Most scientists believe that the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago in what
has become known as the Big Bang.
This gigantic explosion caused matter to expand to form billions of swirling galaxies and
over the time, the stars and their planets.
Big Bang Theory and Expanding Universe

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the birth of the universe.
It states that at some moment all of space was contained in a single point from which
the Universe has been expanding ever since.
Modern measurements place this moment at approximately 13.8 billion years ago,
which is thus considered the age of the universe
After the initial expansion [inflation], the Universe cooled sufficiently to allow the
formation of subatomic particles, and later simple atoms.
The majority of atoms produced by the Big Bang were hydrogen, along with helium.
Giant clouds of these primordial elements later coalesced through gravity to form stars
and galaxies.
According to this theory, the universe, ever since its birth, is expanding in all directions
uniformly
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Exapnding Universe
Big Crunch
Universe would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse.
It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to that in which it
starteda Big Crunch.
Time Temperature Event

in c
10-43 Sec 1032 The cosmos goes through a superfast "inflation,"
expanding from the size of an atom to that of a grapefruit
in a tiny fraction of a second.
10-32 Sec 1027 Post-inflation, the universe is a seething, hot soup of
electrons, quarks and other particles
10-6 Sec 1013 A rapidly cooling cosmos permits quarks to clump into
protons and neutrons.
3 min 108 Still too hot to form into atoms, charged electrons and
protons prevent light from shining: the universe is a
superhot fog
3,00,000 10,000 Electrons combine with protons and neutrons to form

years atoms, mostly hydrogen and helium. Light can finally
shine.
1 billion -200 Gravity makes hydrogen and helium gas coalesce to form
years the giant clouds that will become galaxies: smaller
clumps of gas collapse to for in the first stars
15 billion -270 As galaxies cluster together under gravity, the first stars
years die and spell heavy elements into space: those will
eventually turn into new stars and planets
Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidences for the
continued expansion of universe?
1. Detection of microwaves in space

2. Observation of redshift phenomenon in space
3. Movement of asteroids in space
4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space
Select the correct answer using the using the codes:
a) 1 and 2
b) 2 only
c) 1, 3 and 4 only
d) None of the above
Ans) a
Cosmic microwave background
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the thermal radiation left over from the
"Big Bang".
The CMB is a cosmic background radiation that is fundamental to observational
cosmology because it is the oldest light in the Universe and can be found in all
directions.
With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies (the
background) is completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope shows
a faint background glow, almost exactly the same in all directions, that is not associated
with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of
the radio spectrum.
The CMB is well explained as radiation left over from an early stage in the development
of the Universe, and its discovery is considered a landmark test of the Big Bang model
of the Universe.
What Are Redshift and Blueshift?
Redshift and Blueshift describe how light changes as objects in space (such as stars or
galaxies) move closer or farther away from us. The concept is key to charting the
universe's expansion.
Visible light is a spectrum of colors, which is clear to anyone who has looked at a
rainbow.
When an object moves away from us, the light is shifted to the red end of the
spectrum, as its wavelengths get longer.
If an object moves closer, the light moves to the blue end of the spectrum, as its
wavelengths get shorter.
American astronomer Edwin Hubble (who the Hubble Space Telescope is named after)
was the first to describe the redshift phenomenon and tie it to an expanding universe.
His observations, revealed in 1929, showed that nearly all galaxies he observed are
moving away.
In this post we will study about Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star.
Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star
Outlined below are the many steps involved in a stars evolution, from its formation in a
nebula, to its death as a white dwarf or neutron star.
1. Nebula
2. Protostar
3. T Tauri Star
4. Main Sequence Star
5. Red Giant
6. Supernova
7. White dwarf, Neutron Star or Black Hole
Nebula
A nebula is a cloud of gas (hydrogen) and dust in space.

Nebulae are the birthplaces of stars.
Nebulae consist mostly hydrogen and helium gas.
Protostar
A Protostar looks like a star but its core is not yet hot enough for fusion (fusion of 2
hydrogen atoms into a helium atom with the liberation of huge amount of
energy) to take place.
The luminosity comes exclusively from the
heating of the Protostar as it contracts.
Protostars are usually surrounded by dust,
which blocks the light that they emit, so they
are difficult to observe in the visible spectrum.
T Tauri star
A very young, lightweight star, less than 10 million years old, that it still undergoing
gravitational contraction; it represents an intermediate stage between a protostar
and a low-mass main sequence star like the Sun.
Main sequence stars
Main sequence stars are stars that are fusing hydrogen atoms to form helium
atoms in their cores.
Most of the stars in the universe about 90 percent of them are main sequence
stars.
The sun is a main sequence star.
The faintest stars are the red dwarfs, less than one-thousandth the brightness of the
Sun.
Towards the end of its life, a star like the Sun swells up into a red giant, before
losing its outer layers as a Planetary Nebula and finally shrinking to become a white
dwarf.
Red giant
This is a large bright star with a cool surface.

It is formed during the later stages of the evolution as it runs out of hydrogen fuel
at its centre.
Red giants have diameter's between 10 and 100 times that of the Sun.
They are very bright, although their surface temperature is lower than that of the
Sun
Very large stars (red giants) are often called Super Giants.
The most common red giants are stars nearing the end but are still fusing hydrogen
into helium in a shell surrounding a degenerate helium core.
As the star condenses and it heats up even further, burning the last of its hydrogen
and causing the star's outer layers to expand outward. At this stage, the star
becomes a large red giant.
Red giants are hot enough to turn the helium at their core, which was made by
fusing hydrogen, into heavy elements like carbon. But most stars are not massive
enough to create the pressures and heat necessary to burn heavy elements, so fusion
and heat production stop.
Planetary Nebula
A cloud of Gas and Dust. [No Planets Involved].

Planetary Nebula are the outer layers of a star that are lost when the star
changes from a red giant to a white dwarf.
At the end of its lifetime, the sun will swell up into a red giant, expanding out beyond
the orbit of Venus. As it burns through its fuel, it will eventually collapse. The outer
layers will be ejected in a shell of gas that will last a few tens of thousands of years
before spreading into the vastness of space.
Supernova
This is the explosive death of a star, and often results in the star obtaining the
brightness of 100 million suns for a short time.
The extremely luminous burst of radiation expels much or all of a star's material at a
great velocity, driving a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium.
A great proportion of primary cosmic rays comes from supernovae.
Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways
1. by the sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion in a degenerate star; or
2. by the gravitational collapse of the core of a massive star.
1) Nova: In the first case, a degenerate white dwarf may accumulate sufficient
material from a companion to raise its core temperature, ignite carbon
fusion, and trigger runaway nuclear fusion, completely disrupting the star.
2) In the second case, the core of a massive star may undergo sudden
gravitational collapse, releasing gravitational potential energy that can
create a supernova explosion.
Nova
Nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a

sudden brightening of the star.
Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a
white dwarf in a binary system.
If the two stars of the system are sufficiently near to one another, material can be
pulled from the companion star's surface onto the white dwarf.
A nova is caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of the star,
commencing a runaway fusion reaction.
White dwarf
This is very small, hot star, the last stage in the life cycle of a star like the Sun.
White dwarfs are the shrunken remains of normal stars, whose nuclear energy
supplies have been used up.
White dwarf consist of degenerate matter with a very high density due to gravitational
effects, i.e. one spoonful has a mass of several tonnes.
Fusion in a star's core produces heat and outward pressure, but this pressure is kept
in balance by the inward push of gravity generated by a star's mass.
When the hydrogen used as fuel vanishes, and fusion slows, gravity causes the star
to collapse in on itself.
Great densities are only possible when electrons are displaced from their regular
shells and pushed closer to the nucleus, allowing atoms to take up less space. The
matter in this state is called degenerate matter.
Black dwarf
The last stage of stellar evolution is a black dwarf.

A black dwarf is a white dwarf that has sufficiently cooled that it no longer emits
significant heat or light.
Because the time required for a white dwarf to reach this state is calculated to be
longer than the current age of the universe (13.8 billion years), no black dwarfs
are expected to exist in the universe yet
At the moment, they are strictly theoretical.
A main sequence star that lacks the mass necessary to explode in a supernova will
become a white dwarf, a 'dead' star that has burned through all of its hydrogen and
helium fuel. But the white dwarf remains hot for some time, much like a stove burner
still emits heat even when it has been turned off.
After enough time has passed, all of the leftover heat will have radiated away. No
longer emitting heat or light, the white dwarf will become a black dwarf
However, the black dwarf would still retain its mass, allowing scientists to detect the
effects produced by its gravitational field.
Brown Dwarfs
Brown dwarfs are objects which are too large to be called planets and too small to
be stars.
Brown dwarfs are thought to form in the same way that stars do - from a collapsing
cloud of gas and dust.
However, as the cloud collapses, it does not form an object which is dense enough at
its core to trigger nuclear fusion.
Brown dwarfs were only a theoretical concept until they were first discovered in 1995.
Neutron stars
These stars are composed mainly of neutrons and are produced after a supernova,
forcing the protons and electrons to combine to produce a neutron star.
Neutron stars are very dense.
Typical stars having a mass of three times the Sun but a diameter of only 20 km.
If its mass is any greater, its gravity will be so strong that it will shrink further to
become a black hole.
Black holes
Black holes are believed to form from massive stars at the end of their lifetimes.
The gravitational pull in a black hole is so great that nothing can escape from it, not
even light.
The density of matter in a black hole cannot be measured.
Black holes distort the space around them, and can often suck neighboring matter
into them including stars.
Practice Questions
1. Which of the following sequences below correctly describes the evolution of the
Sun from young to old?
A) White dwarf, red giant, main-sequence, protostar

B) Red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf, protostar
C) Protostar, red giant, main-sequence, white dwarf
D) Protostar, main-sequence, white dwarf, red giant
E) Protostar, main-sequence, red giant, white dwarf
2. A planetary nebula is
A) another term for the disk of gas around a young star.

B) the cloud from which protostars form.
C) a shell of gas ejected from a star late in its life.
D) what is left when a white dwarf star explodes as a supernova.
E) the remnants of the explosion created by the collapse of the iron core in a massive star.
3. Stars like the Sun probably do not form iron cores during their evolution because
A) all the iron is ejected when they become planetary nebulas.
B) their cores never get hot enough for them to make iron by nucleosynthesis.
C) the iron they make by nucleosynthesis is all fused into uranium.

D) their strong magnetic fields keep their iron in their atmospheres.
4. As a star like the Sun evolves into a red giant, its core
A) expands and cools.

B) contracts and heats.
C) expands and heats.
D) turns into iron.
Answers
1) E
2) C
3) B
4) B
In this post we will study about Fromation of Solar System - Nebular Theory of Laplace,
Types of Galaxies and Milky Way Galaxy.
Formation of Solar System
The Star Formation

The distribution of matter and energy was not even in the early universe.
These initial density differences gave rise to differences in gravitational forces
and it caused the matter to get drawn together. These formed the bases for
development of galaxies.
A galaxy starts to form by accumulation of hydrogen gas in the form of a very large
cloud called nebula.
Eventually, growing nebula develops localised clumps of gas.
These clumps continue to grow into even denser gaseous bodies, giving rise to
formation of stars.
Formation of Solar System-Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)

Primordial matter existed in the form of a gaseous mass

called nebula.
This mass started cooling down and in the process lost
some of its volume.
Because of a reduced size, the rotational speed of the
nebula increased.
This had a cascading effect as the centrifugal force of
its mass also increased.
As a result, the mass of the nebula started
concentrating along its equator.
This mass was, on the other hand, being pulled inwards by a gravitational pull.
But, as the centrifugal force increased further, some of the mass from the equator
separated from the main nebula in the form of a ring which was also rotating.
This ring, when cooled down and condensed, gave rise to planets and sub-planets, as
it got broken into many smaller rings.
The remaining mass became the sun.
Drawbacks
Conservation of angular momentum could not be proved. Although the sun's mass
accounts for 99.9% of the entire solar system, the angular momentum of the sun is
only 2% that of the solar system.
Fails to explain the revolution in the opposite direction by some of the sub-planets of
Saturn and Uranus.
The theory fails to explain why only eight planets were formed.
Galaxy
Galaxy a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held
together by gravitational attraction.
A galaxy is a huge mass of stars, nebulae, and inter-stellar material.
The smallest galaxies contain about 100,000 stars, while the largest contains up to
3000 billion stars.
Galaxies are the major building blocks of the universe.
From the billions of galaxies, two basic types have been identified:
1. Regular galaxies, and
2. Irregular galaxies.
Regular Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies Elliptical Galaxies

The Milky Way is an example of disc Star distribution is uneven.
shaped spiral galaxy which has greater
concentration of stars near its center.
Spiral galaxies are well supplied with the Most of their member stars are very old and
interstellar gas in which new bright, no new star forming in them.
young stars form.
Smaller and less brighter The biggest and the brightest galaxies in the
universe are elliptical
The Milky Way and other spiral galaxies Nonuniform distribution of stars.
consist of populations of old stars in the
center, and the youngest stars located in
the arms.
Irregular Galaxies
The irregular galaxies comprise about one-tenth of all galaxies.
The stars of the irregular galaxies are generally very old.
Our Galaxy (Milky Way)
Milky Way galaxy of which our solar system is a part

Orion Arm The Solar System is located in the Orion Arm, 26,000 light years from
the center of the Milky Way
Our galaxy has the shape of a flat disc with a central bulge.
Its diameter is about a 1,00,000 light years.
In the nucleus the thickness reaches 10,000 light years, whereas in the disc it is
500-2,000 light years thick.
We do not know exactly how far the Sun is from the center, but it is conventionally
taken to be 33,000 light years away. Thus our solar system is relatively far from the
galactic center.
The entire galaxy is rotating in the space, although the inner stars travel faster than
those further out.
The Sun which is about one-third out from the centre, completes one lap of galaxy in
about every 220 million years.
In this post we will study about Solar System-Planets-Inner Planets-Outer Planets-Solar

System Facts.
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Previous Posts
Universe-Big Bang-Redshift-Blueshift
Solar System Formation-Nebular Theory of Laplace -Milky Way Galaxy

SOLAR SYSTEM
The nebula from which our Solar system is supposed to have been formed, started its
collapse and core formation some time 5-5.6 billion years ago and the planets were
formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
Our solar system consists of the sun (the star), planets, satellites, millions of smaller
bodies like asteroids, meteorites and comets and huge quantity of dust-grains and
gases.
Out of the nine planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called as the inner
planets as they lie between the sun and the belt of asteroids the other five planets are
called the outer planets.
Alternatively, the first four are called Terrestrial, meaning earth-like as they are made
up of rock and metals, and have relatively high densities.
The rest five are called Jovian or Gas Giant planets.
Jovian means Jupiter-like. Most of them are much larger than the terrestrial planets
and have thick atmosphere, mostly of helium and hydrogen.
The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper
belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits
Why are the inner planets rocky while others are mostly in gaseous
form?
The terrestrial planets were formed in the close vicinity of the parent star where it was
too warm for gases to condense to solid particles. Jovian planets were formed at quite a
distant location.
The solar wind was most intense nearer the sun; so, it blew off lots of gas and dust from
the terrestrial planets. The solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar removal
of gases from the Jovian planets.
The terrestrial planets are smaller and their lower gravity could not hold the escaping
gases.
Components of the Solar System

1. Sun
2. Eight major planets,
3. Dwarf planets (Pluto, Ceres, Eris etc.),
4. Satellites and countless minor planets
5. Asteroids,
6. Meteors, and
7. Comets
8. Debris etc....
Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric

system (Sun at the center). [Geocentric: Earth at the center]
Sun
Age => 4.6 billion years

Diameter => 13,91,785 km (~1.3 million km)
Temperature => 6000 C on surface and 16 million C in core
Density => 1.41 times that of water[Density of water = 999.97 kg/m; Density of
Iron = 7870 kg/m] => Iron is (7870/999.97) = 7.87 times denser than water
Period of rotation => 25 days 9 hrs
Speed of rotation => 7179.73 km/hr (Earths rotational velocity => 1675Km/hr)
Equivalent to 3,32,900 Earth masses.
Compared to the majority of stars in the Milky Way, the Sun is rather large and bright.
Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are
common, making up 85% of the stars in the galaxy.
Sun is located in Orion arm of Milky Way galaxy.
The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass
contained in Jupiter and Saturn.
Sun is rotating (counter-clockwise, as viewed from a long way above Earth's north
pole).
Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun.
A body's closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, whereas its most distant
point from the Sun is called its aphelion.
Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the
angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun.
The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of
roughly 98% hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the
remaining matter, possess atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of these elements.
Those objects closer to the Sun, which are more affected by heat and light pressure, are
composed of elements with high melting points.
Objects farther from the Sun are composed largely of materials with lower melting
points.
Planets
A celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit round a star, the Earth is known as planet.
Planets are generally divided into:
(i) the Inner Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), and
(ii) the Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto-dwarf planet).
Inner Planets
The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region comprising the terrestrial
planets and asteroids.
Composed mainly of silicates and metals.
The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no
moons, and no ring systems.
They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates, which form
their crusts and mantles, and metals, such as iron and nickel, which form their
cores.
Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres substantial
enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface features,
such as rift valleys and volcanoes.
The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates
those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).
Mercury
Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.38 kg

Mercury is similar to the Moon with a surface dominated by craters and a younger
area of dark plains presumably made from floods of lava.
Venus
Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.88 kg

Venus is often considered to be the Earth's twin, but the two planets are not identical.
Venus has high plateaus, folded mountain belts, numerous volcanoes, and
relatively smooth volcanic plains.
The surface of Venus is totally obscured by a thick atmosphere composed mostly of
carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid.
It is much drier than Earth, and its atmosphere is ninety times as dense.
Earth
Surface gravity: 1 kg =1 kg
The force of the Earth's rotation makes the world bulge very slightly at the equator
and go a little flat at the North and the South poles. So the Earth is actually a flattened
sphere, or a geoid.
It is large enough to develop and retain an atmosphere and a hydrosphere.
The Pacific Ocean contains the deepest places on the Earth's surface-the ocean
trenches.
The very deepest is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench which plunges 11022
m into the Earth's crust.
A ray of light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light takes
only a second to reach us from the moon.
Mars
Surface gravity: 1 kg = 0.38 kg.

Surface has been dynamic. Almost every geologic feature is gigantic. Three huge
volcanoes, one more than 28 km high exists at Mars.
There is evidence not only of stream action, but of catastrophic flooding .
Wind action is also an important process on Mars.
In addition polar regions are covered with alternating layers of ice and windblown
sediment.
It possesses an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide.
Its surface, peppered with vast volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, and rift valleys, such
as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have persisted until as recently
as 2 million years ago.
Its red colour comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil.
Mars has two tiny natural satellites (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured
asteroids.
Asteroid belt
Millions of objects, remnants of planetary formation, circle the Sun in a zone lying
between Mars and Jupiter. They are known as asteroids.
Fragments of asteroids break off to form meteoroids, which can reach the Earth's
surface.
Asteroids are small Solar System bodies composed mainly of refractory rocky and
metallic minerals, with some ice.
The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU
from the Sun.
It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System's formation that failed to coalesce
because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter.
Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometres across to microscopic.

All asteroids except the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies.
Ceres
Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest asteroid, a protoplanet, and a dwarf planet.
It has a diameter of slightly under 1,000 km, and a mass large enough for its own
gravity to pull it into a spherical shape
Outer Planets
The four outer planets, called the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the
terrestrials.
The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the
two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are composed largely of substances with
relatively high melting points (compared with hydrogen and helium), called ices, such
as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as "ice giants".
Outer Planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planet - Pluto.
The four outer planets, or gas giants (sometimes called Jovian planets), collectively
make up 99% of the mass known to orbit the Sun.
All four gas giants have rings, although only Saturn's ring system is easily observed
from Earth.
The term superior planet designates planets outside Earth's orbit and thus includes
both the outer planets and Mars.
Jupiter

It is composed mostly of gas and liquid swirling in complex patterns.
Jupiter has no solid surface and hence no record of a geologic history.
Its moons are, however, solid planetary bodies that contain geologic wonders.
Number of moons = 67. Planet with highest number of moons.
Jupiter's four large moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), called the Galilean
satellites because they were discovered by Galileo in 1610
Saturn

It is composed mostly of hydrogen, and helium.
Saturn's rings for long have been considered as its most dramatic feature.
The rings are probably made up of billions of particles of ice and ice-covered rocks
Titan, the second-largest moon in the Solar System, is larger than Mercury and the only
satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. (Our Moon is the fifth
largest natural satellite. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the largest natural staellite in
this solar system. At 5,268 km at the equator, it is larger than Mercury, the dwarf
planet Pluto, and three times larger than the Moon orbiting Earth.)
Number of Moons = 62.
Uranus

No solid surface.
Enveloped by a thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.
In contrast to all other planets in the solar system, it is tipped and spun on its sides,
that is its axis of rotation lies nearly the plane of its orbit.
Moons = 27.
Neptune
1 kg = 1.18 kg
Uranus and Neptune are called the twins of the outer solar system.
Surrounded by thick atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane.
Moons = 13.
Pluto and Charon
1 kg = 0.30 kg.
The dwarf planet Pluto (39 AU average) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt.
When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet; this changed in
2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of planet.
Pluto was moved into the list of Dwarf Planets along with Ceres and Eris.
Charon, Pluto's largest moon.
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting
mainly of objects composed primarily of ice.
It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun.
Other Solar System Objects
Comets
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun,
heats up and begins to outgas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes
also a tail.
These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon
the nucleus of the comet.
Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, which
lie beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Comets, composed of ice and dust, originated outside our solar system. Their elliptical
orbit brings them close to the Sun and into the inner Solar System.
Comets are among the most spectacular and unpredictable bodies in the solar system.
They are made of frozen gases (water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide) which
hold together small pieces of rocky and metallic minerals
One of the larger comets is the Halley's Comet. The orbit of Halley's Comet brings it
close to the Earth every 76 years. It last visited in 1986.
Meteorite
Any solid debris origination from asteroids or comets or from outer space that fall to the
Earth, the Moon, or another planet in the solar system.
Meteor is a body of matter travelling at a great speed through space which becomes
luminous when enters into the atmosphere (mesosphere) at about 200 km above the
Earth's surface, because it is heated by friction. Generally, this latter process dissipates
the material into meteoric dust.
A meteor is popularly termed a 'shooting star' or 'falling star'.
Largest Meteor Crater: A meteor crater in Arizona (USA) is 4,200 ft (1,300 m) deep is
the largest meteor crater in the world. It was formed over 10,000 years ago.
Solar System - Relevant Facts
Planets Diameter in kms; Distance from Sun; Distance

in Astonomical Units(AU)
1 AU = Distance between Sun
and Earth = 149.6 milliom
kms
Mercury 4,878 = 0.38 57.9 mkm = 0.38
Venus 12,104 = 0.96 108.2 mkm = 0.72

Earth 12,576.3 = 1 149.6 mkm = 1
Mars 6,794 = 0.54 227.9 mkm = 1.52
Jupiter 143,884 = 11.44 778.4 mkm = 5.22
Saturn 120,536 = 9.58 1.426 mkm = 9.57
Uranus 51,118 = 4 2.87 mkm = 19.26
Neptune 50,538 = 4 4.498 mkm = 30.18
Relative size of Planets
The Sun compared to the planets

Planets in the ascending order of proximity to sun Temperature

in C
Mercury +427
Venus +480
Earth +22
Mars -23
Jupiter -150
Saturn -180
Uranus -214
Neptune -220
The reason that Venus is hotter than Mercury is because it has an atmosphere
made of carbon dioxide; it also has clouds of acid inside its atmosphere.
Planets in the Period of Rotation Period of Revolution

ascending order of
proximity to sun
Mercury 58 days 87 days
Venus 243 days 224 days
Earth 23:56 hrs 365d, 5:48
Mars 1.05 days 687 days

Jupiter 9 hrs 11.86 years
Saturn 10 hrs 29.46 years
Uranus 17 hrs 84.01 years
Neptune 16 hrs 164.8 years
Planets in the Density relative to

ascending order of water
proximity to sun (Taking, density of
water = 1)
Mercury 5.43
Venus 5.24
Earth 5.51
Mars 3.94
Jupiter 1.33
Saturn 0.70
Uranus 1.3
Neptune 1.76
Planets No of Known Moons

Mercury 0
Venus 0
Earth 1
Mars 2
Jupiter 67
Saturn 62
Uranus 27
Neptune 13
Planets Rank according to

size
Mercury 8
Venus 6
Earth 5
Mars 7
Jupiter 1
Saturn 2
Uranus 3
Neptune 4
Planet Inclination angle to Orbital Velocity in

Ecliptic km/s
Mercury 7 47
Venus 3 35
Earth 23 29
Mars 1 24
Jupiter 1 13
Staurn 2 9
Uranus 0 6
Neptune 1 5
Pluto (Dwarf 17 4
planet)
Other related concepts
Heliocentric vs Geocentric
Heliocentric system is an astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve
around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. [Remember the
name of the man who first suggested this model?]
Geocentric model (Earth the centre) was proposed by Ptolemy.
Kepler's laws of planetary motion

1. The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal
intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major
axis of its orbit.
Why is Venus sometimes called Earth's twin?

almost the same size,
have about the same mass (they weigh about the same), and
have a very similar composition (are made of the same material).
They are also neighboring planets.
However, Venus and Earth are also very different

Venus has an atmosphere that is about 100 times thicker than Earth's and has surface
temperatures that are extremely hot.
Venus does not have life or water oceans like Earth does.
Venus also rotates backwards compared to Earth and the other planets.
Mars Compared to Earth

53% the diameter of Earth
10% the mass of Earth
surface gravity on Mars is only 38% the gravity on Earth
A day on Mars lasts 1.03 Earth days
axial tilt on Mars is 25.19 degrees. Very close to Earths 23.5 degree tilt
a year on Mars lasts about twice as long as an Earth year, the seasons are twice as long.
The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% the thickness of Earths atmosphere.
Furthermore, its made up of 95% carbon dioxide
Ecliptic Plane
Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, known as
the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic, whereas comets and Kuiper belt
objects are frequently at significantly greater angles to it.
Important fact
All the planets except VENUS and URANUS rotate in anti-clockwise direction.
The Moon
The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth.
It is now generally believed that the formation of moon, as a satellite of the earth, is an
outcome of giant impact or what is described as the big splat.
A body of the size of one to three times that of mars collided into the earth sometime
shortly after the earth was formed. It blasted a large part of the earth into space.
This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually formed
into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.
Its diameter is only one-quarter that of the earth.
It is about 3, 84,400 km away from us.
The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days. It takes exactly the same time to
complete one spin. As a result, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the earth.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the surface of the moon on 29 July 1969.
In this post we will study about Sun - Internal Structure - Atmosphere - Aurora.
Previous Posts
Universe-Big Bang-Redshift-Blueshift
Solar System Formation-Nebular Theory of Laplace -Milky Way Galaxy
Solar System Inner Planets

Solar System Planets Outer Planets
Sun
Age => 4.6 billion years

Diameter => 13,91,785 km (~1.3 million km)
Temperature => 6000 C on surface and 16 million C in core
Density => 1.41 times that of water
Period of rotation => 25 days 9 hrs
Speed of rotation => 7179.73 km/hr (Earths rotational velocity => 1675Km/hr)
Equivalent to 3,32,900 Earth masses.
Compared to the majority of stars in the Milky Way, the Sun is rather large and bright.
Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are
common, making up 85% of the stars in the galaxy.
Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the
angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun.
The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of
roughly 98% hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the
remaining matter, possess atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of these elements.
Sun - Internal Structure - Atmosphere

The solar interior, from the inside out, is made up of the core, radiative zone and the
convective zone.
The solar atmosphere above that consists of the photosphere, chromosphere, and the
corona.
Beyond that is the solar wind, an outflow of gas from the corona.
Photosphere
The photosphere is the bright outer layer of the Sun that emits most of the radiation.
The photosphere is an extremely uneven surface.
The effective temperature on the outer side of the photosphere is 6000K (11,000F).
Chromosphere
Just above the photosphere is the chromosphere.

It is relatively a thin layer of burning gases.
Sunspot
A dark patch on the surface of the Sun is known as sunspot.

Sunspots appear as dark areas because they are about 1500 cooler than the
surrounding chromospheres.
The individual sunspot has a lifetime ranging from a few days to a few months.
Each spot has a black center or umbra, and a lighter region or penumbra, surrounding
it.
It has been suggested that the Sun is 1% cooler when it has no spot, and that this
variation in solar radiation might affect the climates of the Earth.
Solar Wind
Stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing

outward from the Sun at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million
degrees (Celsius).
It is made of plasma.
Effects
As the solar wind approaches a planet that has a well-developed magnetic field (such as
Earth, Jupiter and Saturn), the particles are deflected.
This region, known as the magnetosphere, causes the particles to travel around the
planet rather than bombarding the atmosphere or surface.
The magnetosphere is roughly shaped like a hemisphere on the side facing the Sun,
then is drawn out in a long trail on the opposite side.
The boundary of this region is called the magnetopause, and some of the particles are
able to penetrate the magnetosphere through this region by partial reconnection of the
magnetic field lines.
The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth's magnetosphere.
Moreover, planets with a weak or non-existent magnetosphere are subject to
atmospheric stripping by the solar wind.
Venus, the nearest and most similar planet to Earth in the Solar System, has an
atmosphere 100 times denser than our own, with little or no geo-magnetic field.
This is an exception.
Solar flares
Produced due to magnetic anomalies.

A magnetic storm on the Sun which appears to be a very bright spot and a gaseous
surface eruption.
The high magnetic fields in the sunspot-producing active regions give rise to
explosions known as solar flares.
As solar flares push through the corona, they heat its gas to anywhere from 10 to 20
million K.
Solar prominence
An arc of gas that erupts from the surface of the Sun.

Prominences can loop hundreds of thousands of miles into space.
Prominences are held above the Sun's surface by strong magnetic fields and can last
for many months.
At some time in their existence, most prominences will erupt, spewing enormous
amounts of solar material into space.
Corona
A corona is a distinctive atmosphere of plasma that surrounds the Sun and other
celestial bodies.
The Sun's corona extends millions of kilometres into space and is most easily seen
during a total solar eclipse
Plasma
One of the four fundamental states of matter, the others being solid, liquid, and
gas.
Plasma is simply ionized gas [convert (an atom, molecule, or substance) into an ion
or ions, typically by removing one or more electrons]
Lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from
plasma.
Neon lights could more accurately be called "plasma lights", because the light comes
from the plasma inside of them.
Aurora
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high
latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. [This is due to magnetic field lines of
earth]
Auroras are caused by charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, entering the
atmosphere from above causing ionization and excitation of atmospheric
constituents, and consequent optical emissions.

The Universe: Big Bang Theory and Expanding Universe

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Universe ==> all existing matter and space.

Big Bang Theory and Expanding Universe

Time Temperature Event

3,00,000 10,000 Electrons combine with protons and neutrons to form

1. Detection of microwaves in space

Select the correct answer using the using the codes:

Cosmic microwave background

What Are Redshift and Blueshift?

Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star

A nebula is a cloud of gas (hydrogen) and dust in space.

are difficult to observe in the visible spectrum.

Main sequence stars

This is a large bright star with a cool surface.

A cloud of Gas and Dust. [No Planets Involved].

Nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a

The last stage of stellar evolution is a black dwarf.

A) White dwarf, red giant, main-sequence, protostar

A) another term for the disk of gas around a young star.

C) the iron they make by nucleosynthesis is all fused into uranium.

A) expands and cools.

Formation of Solar System

The Star Formation

Formation of Solar System-Nebular Theory of Laplace (1796)

Primordial matter existed in the form of a gaseous mass

Spiral Galaxies Elliptical Galaxies

Our Galaxy (Milky Way)

Milky Way galaxy of which our solar system is a part

In this post we will study about Solar System-Planets-Inner Planets-Outer Planets-Solar

Download this post in PDF format [Follow Link]

Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star

Solar System Formation-Nebular Theory of Laplace -Milky Way Galaxy

Components of the Solar System

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric

Age => 4.6 billion years

Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.38 kg

Surface gravity: 1kg = 0.88 kg

Surface gravity: 1 kg = 0.38 kg.

Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometres across to microscopic.

Surface gravity: 1 kg = 2.53 kg.

Surface gravity: 1 kg = 1.07 kg.

Surface gravity: 1 kg = 0.92 kg.

Pluto and Charon

Other Solar System Objects

Solar System - Relevant Facts

Planets Diameter in kms; Distance from Sun; Distance

Venus 12,104 = 0.96 108.2 mkm = 0.72

Relative size of Planets

The Sun compared to the planets

Planets in the ascending order of proximity to sun Temperature

Planets in the Period of Rotation Period of Revolution

Mars 1.05 days 687 days

Planets in the Density relative to

Planets No of Known Moons

Planets Rank according to

Planet Inclination angle to Orbital Velocity in

Other related concepts

Kepler's laws of planetary motion

Why is Venus sometimes called Earth's twin?

However, Venus and Earth are also very different

Mars Compared to Earth

Star Formation-Stellar Evolution-Life Cycle Of A Star

Solar System Formation-Nebular Theory of Laplace -Milky Way Galaxy