Download Journey Through the Universe By Brian Fontaine

A Journey Through the
Universe
By Brian Fontaine
Earth…. A “speck of dust” with just the perfect orbit, the
perfect distance, with the perfect combination of elements
to support life…
Earth:
Diameter= 7,000 miles
Orbital Period = 365.25 days
Rotational Period = 24 hrs.
Tilt = 23.5 degrees
(towards Polaris)
http://www.msss.com/earth/earth.gif
But earth is just a speck, a million times smaller
than the sun, but only 8 light-minutes from it,
traveling at light speed (186,000 miles per
second)
Our star, the sun, is an “average” star in the universe, one of
billions in our galaxy. It has eight “more significant” chunks
of debris orbiting around it we call “planets”.
http://www.enterprisemission.com/
It is believed that our
solar system began
similar to a galaxy…(or
a hurricane). A cloud
of gas (nebula)
collapsed to form the
sun, which began
rotating. As time when
on, the heavier dust fell
toward the sun,
creating the rocky
inner planets, and the
lighter stayed further
away from the sun’s
gravity, forming the
outer gaseous planets.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/astronomy/solar-system/formation.jp
Plenty of material is left over: billions of asteroids, comets, and
interplanetary dust floating around, constantly threatening life
on our tiny little planet.
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC063368/the_asteriod_belt.htm
Asteroids are just rocks
orbiting stars or perhaps
floating freely in
interstellar space. They
are not large enough to
become spherical
because their gravity is
too small. Just
“floating” in our solar
system means they are
traveling at 25,000 miles
per hour!
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/asteroids.html
http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/comets.html
Comets are balls of dust and ice that travel for thousands of years
around stars in highly elliptical paths. They begin to make their dusty
visible tail when they get close to the sun.
Although our solar system is large to us, it is just a speck of dust in
our enormous galaxy, the Milky Way. Here, a telescope takes a
picture from the earth toward the center of the Milky Way.
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/D_SUM_S/MILKYWAY.HTM
This is a panoramic picture of the Milky Way in all directions
around the earth. It appears much fainter to our eyes because they
can’t collect light like a telescope can.
http://www.ccastronomy.org/photo_tour_HST_DeepField2.jpg
Our galaxy is made up of billions of stars. It’s so wide, it
takes light 100,000 years to travel across it!
BTW- light travels at 186,000 miles per SECOND!
http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/images/Milky_Way_galaxy_sun05.jpg
And yet our galaxy is just one of BILLIONS when we peer
deep into the universe. Each galaxy you see here has
perhaps a billion stars, each with the possibility of dozens
of planets.
http://www.ccastronomy.org/photo_tour_HST_DeepField2.jpg
And everywhere we look in the universe we have dozens of
galaxies… each containing billions of stars, perhaps with dozens of
planets each.
This picture would be smaller than the thickness of a dime held at
arm’s length.
http://www.cosmiclight.com/imagegalleries/images/space/deepfield2.jpg
Therefore, our current form of space travel is not adequate for
exploring the universe. The space shuttle here would take…
Four months to visit our most inhabitable neighbor, Mars.
And 40 years to travel to Pluto… when it’s at its nearest point.
Earth
And just 1.2 million years to get to our
nearest star… Alpha Centauri.
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/proxima_cen.jpg
And just 1.6 billion years to reach the center of
the Milky Way galaxy!
You are here!
http://www.coseti.org/images/m31.jpg