Transcript the universe

THE UNIVERSE
Mr. Fatolitis
Science Class
By the time you are done
with this lesson you
should be able to
describe the structure of
the universe, including
the scale of distances in
the universe.
OUR ADDRESS
• Clearwater Fundamental Middle School
– 1665 Palmetto Street
• Clearwater
–Florida
»United States
• Earth
• Solar System
• Milky Way Galaxy
• Universe
EARTH – Our Home
Planet
• Atmosphere contains gasses that
animals need to breath.
• Ozone molecules absorb radiation
from our sun.
• Certain gasses in the atmosphere
keep temperatures warm enough for
life to exist.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
• Collection of small and large bodies that orbit
our central star – The Sun
• Planets are spherical bodies that orbit the Sun
– Terrestrial planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and mars
• Rocky, dense and relatively small
– Gas planets
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Gaseous atmospheres
Small rocky core
Ring system of ice, rock and dust
STARS
• A large celestial body composed of gas and
emits light.
• Most made of hydrogen and helium
• Energy is made by nuclear fusion
– Lighter elements bond to make heavier elements
– Energy escapes as visible light, radiation, heat and
wind.
• Sizes vary from the size of the Earth to 1000
times larger than our Sun.
GALAXIES
• Large collection of stars, gas and dust that
is held together by gravity.
• Small galaxies (dwarf galaxies) may
contain 100 million stars: Giant galaxies
may contain hundreds of billion stars.
• Spiral galaxies are shaped like a pinwheel.
• Elliptical galaxies are shaped like ovals
• Irregular galaxies are areas of star
formation.
How are distances in the
universe measured?
• A light year is the distance that light
travels in one year. IT IS NOT A
TIME, IT’S A DISTANCE!!!
• Light travels through space at
300,000 km/s, or about 9.5 trillion
km in one year.
What is the structure of the
UNIVERSE?
• The universe is defined as space and all the
energy in it.
• Clusters are areas where galaxies are found.
(several thousands)
• Superclusters are areas of densely
concentrated galaxies. (tens of thousands)
• Areas where little matter exists are called
voids.