What is Astronomy?

Astronomy is the branch of science that studies outer space focusing on celestial bodies such as stars, comets, planets, and galaxies. History of Astronomy Perhaps one of the oldest sciences, we have record of people studying astronomy as far back as Ancient Mesopotamia. Later civilizations such as the reeks, !omans, and Mayans also studied astronomy. "owever, all of these early scientists had to observe space with #ust their eyes. $here was only so much they could see. %ith the invention of the telescope in the early &'((s, scientists were able to see much further ob#ects as well as get a better view of closer ob#ects like the moon and the planets. Major Discoveries and Scientists alileo alilei made ma#or improvements to the telescope allowing close observations of the planets. "e made many discoveries including the ) ma#or satellites of *upiter +the alilean moons, and sunspots. *ohannes -epler was a famous astronomer and mathematician who came up with the planetary laws of motion that described how the planets orbit the sun. .saac /ewton explained the physics behind the solar system using his laws of celestial dynamics and gravitation. .n the 0(th century we are still making ma#or discoveries in astronomy. $hese discoveries include the existence of galaxies, black holes, neutron stars, 1uasars, and more.

What is the universe? $he universe contains everything that exists including the 2arth, planets, stars, space, and galaxies. $his includes all matter, energy, and even time. How big is the universe? /o one knows for sure #ust how big the universe is. .t could be infinitely large. 3cientists, however, measure the size of the universe by what they can see. $hey call this the 4observable universe.4 $he observable universe is around 56 billion light years across. The Universe is E !anding 7ne of the interesting things about the universe is that it is currently expanding. .t8s growing larger and larger all the time. /ot only is it growing larger, but the edge of the universe is expanding at a faster and faster rate. 3cientists think that the edge of the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light. What is the universe made of? 2ven though the 2arth seems really big to us, it8s actually a very tiny part of the universe. $he 3un has a mass of 66(,((( times the 2arth. $he 3un is #ust one star in the Milky %ay galaxy that contains over 6(( billion stars and scientists estimate that there are over &9( billion galaxies in the universe: "owever, most of the universe is what we think of as empty space. All the stars together only make up around half a percent of the universe. $he ma#ority of the universe consists of something scientists call dark matter and dark energy. What are dar" matter and dar" energy? %e mentioned above that the ma#ority of the universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, but what exactly are these things; <ark matter = 3cientists aren8t sure exactly what dark matter is, but they believe that it exists due to experiments. <ark matter gets its name because it cannot be seen with any type of instrument that we have today. Around 09> of the universe is made up of dark matter. <ark energy = <ark energy is something that scientists believe fills all space. .t turns out that 4empty space4 is more than #ust nothing, but is really dark energy. $he theory of dark energy helps scientists to explain why the universe is expanding. Around '?> of the universe is dark energy. How o#d is the universe? 3cientists think that the universe began between &6 and &) billion years ago with the start of a massive explosion called the @ig @ang. $nteresting %acts about the Universe <istant galaxies are constantly moving further and further away from us as the universe expands. 2very galaxy in the universe is moving away from every other galaxy. $here is no center to the universe.

Albert 2instein said that the shape of the universe was open, closed, or flat. 3cientists today think that the universe is flat. $he universe appears to be cooling and may eventually freeze. Large empty spaces in the universe are called voids. $he most abundant element in the universe is hydrogen. $he second most abundant element is helium.

3cientists used to think that all the stars in the universe were part of one giant grouping of stars. $hen, in &5&9, $homas %right suggested that their might be lots of different large groups of stars. A few years later this was proven by other astronomers and the idea of the galaxy became real. What is a &a#a y? A galaxy is a group of stars and other space stuff. $he stars tend to spin around a center of high gravity, sort of like the planets spin around the 3un in the 3olar 3ystem. alaxies are huge and can have trillions +way bigger than billions:, of stars. As big as galaxies are, they are generally separated by large areas of empty space. $here are even clusters of galaxies that are separated by even larger areas of space. 3cientists think there are over &(( billion galaxies. %ow, the universe is huge: Mi#"y Way %e live in the galaxy called the Milky %ay. $he Milky %ay is part of cluster of around 6,((( galaxies called the Local roup. $he Milky %ay is a spiral shaped galaxy and is estimated to be made up of around 6(( billion stars. Ty!es of &a#a ies $here are four main types of galaxies depending on their shapeA S!ira# = $he spiral galaxy has a number of long arms that are spiraling around the center. .n the center of the spiral galaxy are older stars while the arms are generally made of new stars. 'arred s!ira# = $his type of galaxy is similar to the spiral but has a long bar in the middle with spirals coming off the ends.

E##i!tica# = A mass of stars clumped together in the shape of an elliptical disc. $rregu#ar = Any other shaped galaxy is generally lumped into the category of irregular. .t is thought that most irregular galaxies are formed by two of the other three types of galaxies crashing into each other.

$nteresting %acts about &a#a ies $he word galaxy comes from the reek word for 4milky4. 3ome scientists think that most of the mass of a galaxy is made up of a mysterious substance called dark matter.

.t is thought that there is a massive black hole in the center of galaxies. $he closest galaxy to the Milky %ay is Andromeda, which is around 0.' million light years away from us. Many galaxies are more than &((,((( light years across in distance. .t takes over two hundred million years for the sun to orbit the center of the galaxy. $his is called a galactic year.

What is a star? 3tars are giant spheres of superhot gas made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. 3tars get so hot by burning hydrogen into helium in a process called nuclear fusion. $his is what makes them so hot and bright. 7ur 3un is a star. (ifecyc#e of a star 'irth = 3tars start out in giant clouds of dust called nebulae. ravity forces the dust to bunch together. As more and more dust bunches up, gravity gets stronger and it starts to get hot and becomes a protostar. 7nce the center gets hot enough, nuclear fusion will begin and a young star is born. Main Se)uence Star = 7nce a star, it will continue to burn energy and glow for billions of years. $his is the state of the star for the ma#ority of its life and is called the 4main se1uence4. <uring this time a balance is met between gravity wanting to shrink the star and heat wanting to make it grow bigger. $he star will remain this way until it runs out of hydrogen.

*ed &iant = %hen the hydrogen runs out, the outside of the star expands and it becomes a red giant. +o##a!se = 2ventually the core of the star will start to make iron. $his will cause the star to collapse. %hat happens to the star next depends on how much mass it had +how big it was,. $he average star will become a white dwarf star. Larger stars will create a huge nuclear explosion called a supernova. After the supernova it may become a black hole or a neutron star.

Ty!es of Stars $here are many different types of stars. 3tars that are in their main se1uence +normal stars, are categorized by their color. $he smallest stars are red and don8t give off much of a glow. Medium size stars are yellow, like the 3un. $he largest stars are blue and are hugely bright. $he larger the main se1uence star, the hotter and brighter they are. Dwarfs = 3maller stars are called dwarf stars. !ed and yellow stars are generally called dwarfs. A brown dwarf is one that never 1uite got large enough for nuclear fusion to occur. A white dwarf is the remnants of the collapse of a red giant star. &iants = iant stars may be main se1uence stars like a blue giant, or stars that are expanding like red giants. 3ome supergiant stars are as big as the entire 3olar 3ystem: ,eutrons = A neutron star is created from the collapse of a giant star. .t8s very tiny, but very dense. $nteresting facts about Stars Most of the stars in the universe are red dwarfs. $hey twinkle because of movement in the 2arth8s atmosphere.

Many stars come in pairs called binary stars. $here are some groupings with up to ) stars. $he smaller they are the longer they live. iant stars are bright, but tend to burn out fast.

$he nearest star to 2arth is Proxima Bentauri. .t is ).0 light=years away, meaning you would have to travel at the speed of light for ).0 years to get there. $he 3un is around ).C billion years old.

What is a comet? Bomets are lumps of ice, dust, and rock that orbit the 3un. $he typical comet has a core that is a few kilometers in diameter. Bomets are often called the 4dirty snowballs4 of the 3olar 3ystem. +oma and Tai# As a comet nears the 3un its ices will begin to heat up and turn into gases and plasma. $hese gases form a large glowing 4head4 around the comet that is called a 4coma4. As the comet speeds through space, the gasses will trail behind the comet forming a tail. @ecause of their coma and tail, comets appear fuzzy as they near the 3un. $his allows astronomers to easily determine comets from other space ob#ects. 3ome comets can be seen with the naked eye as they pass by 2arth. -rbit of a +omet Bomets are usually divided into two groups determined by the type of orbit they have. $he first type of comet is the short period comet. 3hort period comets have orbits of less than two hundred years. 3ome have very short orbits of #ust a few years. $hese types of comets originate from the -uiper belt. $he second type of comet is the long period comet. Long period comets have orbits of greater than two hundred years. 3ome long period comets have orbits of thousands of years. 3cientists think that long period comets come from the 7ort cloud. The .ui!er 'e#t $he -uiper belt is a region of the 3olar 3ystem that lies beyond the planets and the orbit of /eptune. .t is much larger than the asteroid belt. $he -uiper belt contains millions of icy ob#ects including some larger ob#ects like the dwarf planets Pluto and 2ris. The -ort +#oud %ell beyond the -uiper belt, scientists believe there is another collection of billions of comets called the 7ort cloud. $his is where long orbit comets come from. $he outer limit of the 7ort cloud defines the outer boundary of the 3olar 3ystem. What are meteoroids/ meteors/ and meteorites? A meteoroid is a small piece of rock or metal that has broken off from a comet or an asteroid. Meteoroids can form from asteroids colliding or as debris from comets speeding by the 3un. Meteors are meteoroids that get pulled into 2arth8s atmosphere by 2arth8s gravity. %hen a meteor hits the atmosphere it will heat up and burn with a bright streak of light called a 4falling star4 or a 4shooting star.4 .f several meteors occur at the same time and near the same place in the sky, it is called a meteor shower. A meteorite is a meteor that does not entirely burn up and makes it all the way to the ground. $nteresting %acts about +omets and Meteors $he 7ort cloud is located about one light year from the 3un. 7ne of the most famous comets is "alley8s Bomet. "alley8s Bomet has an orbit of 9' years and is visible from 2arth as it passes by.

<uring ancient times, people believed that the passing of a comet was an omen of doom. 2ventually the ice will burn off of a comet and it will #ust be a metallic rock with no coma or tail. $hese comets are said to have gone 4extinct4.

Millions of meteors enter the 2arth8s atmosphere every day. Most of them are about the size of a pebble.

Satellite A satellite is an object that orbits another object. With sufficient tangential velocity, the object does not collide with the ri!ary object it orbits, but !aintains a distance fro! that object as the rate at which it falls towards that object is si!ilar to the rate that it travels away, thus the object orbits the ri!ary object and beco!es a satellite. "n other words# gravitational force serves as the centri etal force needed to !a$e the object circle the ri!ary object. All !asses that are art of the solar syste!, including the %arth, are satellites of the &un, or satellites of those objects, such as the 'oon. "n co!!on usage, the ter! is usually used to describe an artificial satellite. (he first satellite launched into s ace was Sputnik in 1)5*. & utni$ was only a tiny !etal ball that trans!itted a signal for about three wee$s. "t wasn+t until 1)62 that the first orbiting satellite rovided long,ter! service to the %arth. (hat satellite was na!ed Telstar. After the initial launches, the nu!ber of satellites and their co! le-ity has continued to increase. (oday there are thousands of !an,!ade objects orbiting the %arth. "f you go outside on a very clear night, there is a good chance you will see a bright light s eed across the s$y. (hese fast !oving objects are often satellites that are reflecting the light of the &un. How Do Satellites Orbit Earth? 'ost satellites are launched into s ace on roc$ets. A satellite orbits %arth when its s eed is balanced by the ull of %arth+s gravity. Without this balance, the satellite would fly in a straight line off into s ace or fall bac$ to %arth. &atellites orbit %arth at different heights, different s eeds and along different aths. (he two !ost co!!on ty es of orbit are .geostationary. /jee,oh,&(A0,shun,air,ee1 and . olar.. A geostationary satellite travels fro! west to east over the e2uator. "t !oves in the sa!e direction and at the sa!e rate %arth is s inning. 3ro! %arth, a geostationary satellite loo$s li$e it is standing still since it is always above the sa!e location. 4olar,orbiting satellites travel in a north,south direction fro! ole to ole. As %arth s ins underneath, these satellites can scan the entire globe, one stri at a ti!e.

How Do Satellites help us? (housands of artificial, or !an,!ade, satellites orbit %arth. &o!e ta$e ictures of the lanet that hel !eteorologists redict weather and trac$ hurricanes. &o!e *

ta$e ictures of other lanets, the sun, blac$ holes, dar$ !atter or faraway gala-ies. (hese ictures hel scientists better understand the solar syste! and universe. other satellites are used !ainly for co!!unications, such as bea!ing (5 signals and hone calls around the world. A grou of !ore than 26 satellites !a$e u the 7lobal 4ositioning &yste!, or 74&. "f you have a 74& receiver, these satellites can hel figure out your e-act location. &atellites loo$ing toward %arth rovide infor!ation about clouds, oceans, land and ice. (hey also !easure gases in the at!os here, such as o8one and carbon dio-ide, and the a!ount of energy that %arth absorbs and e!its. And satellites !onitor wildfires, volcanoes and their s!o$e. All this infor!ation hel s scientists redict weather and cli!ate. (he infor!ation also hel s ublic health officials trac$ disease and fa!ine9 it hel s far!ers $now what cro s to lant9 and it hel s e!ergency wor$ers res ond to natural disasters. &atellites that face toward s ace have a variety of jobs. &o!e watch for dangerous rays co!ing fro! the sun. :thers e- lore asteroids and co!ets, the history of stars, and the origin of lanets. &o!e satellites fly near or orbit other lanets.