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The First Trillionth Second of The Universe

Posted on the November 2nd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

Data collected in 2006 from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, has given cosmologists their best evidence in support of a scenario referred to as ‘inflation’. The inflation scenario is where the universe would have rapidly grown to massive proportions within the first trillionth of a second of its existence. This particular set of evidence was collected over the course of three years by continuous observation of leftover afterglow light. This is background cosmic radiation which has hung around since the beginning of the universe almost 14 billion years ago.

NASA made an announcement in 2003, that WMAP had been able to take a very detailed image of the universe in it’s infancy by charting changes in the temperature of the afterglow. This allowed scientists to answer many unanswered queries they had about things such as the age of the universe, its composition and how it developed. Since that time the team operating the WMAP satellite has built upon that initial image and incorporated new results including the measurement of the glare from afterglow in order to learn further clues regarding the first few moments of the universe. This is where the initial seeds were sown which would lead to the creation of the stars 400 million years on.

How the Universe Came To Be

Posted on the October 23rd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

How the Universe Came To Be

What is the origin of the universe? Providing an answer to this question has always being a challenge. Thanks to modern science and technology, scientists can now explain some things about the vast universe. This is an incredible achievement given the size of the whole universe. To understand how large the universe really is, did you know that the stars visible at night are only a tiny fraction about 3000 closest to the earth out of about 300 billion stars found in our galaxy only. Consider that there are about 100 billion more galaxies in the universe yet to explored and that ends up being a pretty big number.

The biggest questions human beings have about the universe are whether it has always existed or whether it just started all of a sudden. A significant discovery made at the beginning of the past century indicated that the whole universe is expanding. Scientists took this to mean that the universe began long ago very time and expanded to what it is today with time.

The discovery that the universe has not always existed but had a start combined with its large size and complexity led people to wonder what the origin of the universe was. After years of research and speculations, the Bing Bang theory is one of the most popular theories of the origin of the universe.

Did The Big Bang Really Happen?

Posted on the June 23rd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

The Bing Bang Theory if the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe. Scientists are confident about this theory because of observational results showing that the universe originated from the big bang. Here are the three major evidences that the universe formed from the big bag explosion.

1. The Discovery That the Universe Is Expanding

The first evidence of the Big Bang happening is the observation that the universe is continuously expanding creating a bigger distance between the different galaxies in the universe. This realization indicates that everything in the universe was once close together until an explosion triggered the expansion.

When speculations began about the universe being in an expansive state, there was no evidence to support this. This changed when Vesto Slipher, an explorer, observed that more galaxies where moving away from ours rather than were approaching. By monitoring the spectrum of light produced by a galaxy, Slipher was able to know whether the galaxy was moving away or towards our galaxy.

Galaxies coming towards us have a spectrum of light with a shorter wavelength (blueshift). This is similar to how an approaching vehicle produces a higher pitch due to a shorter sound wavelength. On the other hand, galaxies moving away from our galaxy exhibit a spectrum of light characterized by a longer wavelength/ redshift similar to how a disappearing vehicle produces a lower pitch due to a longer sound wavelength. Slipher found out that most of the galaxies had a longer wavelength and were moving away.

Interesting Facts about Mars

Posted on the February 23rd, 2011 under Our Solar System by Aaron

What You Didn’t Know About Mars

Mars is one of the most interesting planets in the solar system. Being that it is Earth’s neighbor, the ancient civilizations were curious about this planet leading to a lot of speculations and explorations. Here are some of the interesting facts about and related to this planet.

Interesting Thing to Know About Mars- Early Beliefs and Discoveries

• In the past, scientists believed that most of Mars polar caps consisted of mainly carbon dioxide with a little water to form dry ice. Deeper explorations revealed that the composition is mainly frozen water and a little layer of carbon dioxide.

• In the history of Mars exploration, Galileo Galilee became the first person to make a telescopic study of mars in 1607.

• In the fiction book The War of the Worlds by H.G Wells written in 1898, Mars inhabitants are very intelligent and highly technologically advanced. They use their power to destroy humans in order to dominate the world. Although a work of fiction, this book raised tension in people.

• An Italian explorer noticed strange network lines on Mars in 1877. He named them Canali in Italian, which means channels but people understood this to mean canals. An American explorer speculated that the lines transported water from Mar ice caps to the dessert. This discovery aroused the curiosity of the public about Mars supporting life.

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Just How Far Away Is Everything In The Universe and Galaxy?

Posted on the May 23rd, 2010 under The Universe by Aaron

One of the most common questions about the universe is how far and how big everything is. The stars in the night sky appear so close as if it is possible to reach out and touch them. However, the stars are very far away. This raises questions as to exactly how far away the stars are, what is above them and how large the universe is.

Without considering the distance, the sky appears to be like a bowl above our heads. Figuring out the distance the stars are from us is the first step to figuring out how the entire universe looks like and forming a three dimensional picture. This is the first step to getting answers to some of the questions bothering scientists for years. Such questions include, how old is the universe? How large is the universe? What is our place and role in the universe?

Over the years, different generations of scientists have explored the universe discovering new things about the vast expanse that is the universe. In the third century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the distance to the moon using the shadow of the earth formed during a lunar eclipse. However, the large size of the universe means that this there is a long way to go and the discoveries made so far are the first steps of a long journey of discovery.

The Age & Composition of the Universe

Posted on the March 22nd, 2010 under The Universe by Aaron

Our universe is believed to be approximately 14 billion years old. This figure is believed to be accurate to within 120 million years. The age is based on very accurate measurements of the universe’s oldest light. This date was announced in March 2006, although it is believed that additional data from WMAP in recent years has reduced the margin of error to within tens of millions of years.

It was around 380,000 years after the Big Bang that the temperature of the universe has reduced by enough to allow Hydrogen atoms to be formed from protons and electrons. This resulted in a burst of light which as time progressed (several billion years to be exact) became microwaves detectable as background radiation across the cosmos. There are a number of variations which can be observed in this radiation and NASA have been monitoring this since 2001 and the data collected all provides further evidence to support the idea of inflation. This rapid expansion would have occurred in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a second of the universe’s existence! The latest data provided by WMAP has allowed scientists to make a distinction between the various suggested inflation models. There is now very viable evidence to support the universe being filled with subatomic particles with virtually no mass called neutrinos. This presence of primordial neutrinos was predicted in the Big Bang theory.

Our Expanding Universe

Posted on the November 30th, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

It is very difficult for some to comprehend, but space is actually expanding. In particular the huge empty areas in between galaxies are growing. I say empty spaces, but if we take Albert Einstein’s view – he believed that space was not empty, but rather that it was a real and somewhat flexible  thing that could be stretched. This is part of his predictions based on his theory of gravity which is at its base level a simple explanation of the relationships between space, time and matter.

It was towards the end of the 1920′s that astronomer Edwin Hubble (now famous for the Hubble telescope) first made the observation that far off galaxies were actually pulling away from ours. This of course supports the idea that the space that lies in between them is expanding as theorized by Einstein. Since this first observation, astronomers have continued to measure the ever growing distances between millions of other galaxies.

The galaxies themselves appear somewhat passive. They sit in space while it expands between them carrying them further and further away from each other. From time to time the gravity from any one particular galaxy – or even from several – can interfere with natural path of the galaxies as they are pushed further apart. This can result is them colliding with neighbouring galaxies. However, this is very rare and for the most part if you were to look at any two adjoining areas of space the galaxies in each would appear to move away from each other. The most confusing part of all is that space isn’t actually expanding into something else! When one region expands it does not have to push something else out of its way.

The Multiverse Theory

Posted on the September 22nd, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

The Multiverse Theory on the Origin of the Universe and Its Implications

The Multiverse Theory is a new concept that expands our cosmic understanding of the universe. It is almost as revolutionary as the discovery that the earth revolves around a star located on the edge of the Milky Way.

According to this theory, when a star has enough mass, it is possible for it to collapse on itself forming black holes. Scientists think that there is a point within these holes where all physical laws stop to apply. They refer to this point as the point of singularity where the space-time curvature is infinitely large making it impossible for modern science to forecast future happenings.

At this point, not even Einstein’s theory of relativity can identify the effect singularity will have on an object. This creates a point of uncertainty in the universe where knowing is not possible. This is a point beyond the knowledge and understanding of modern science.

This uncertainty has led to the development of many theories to explain the concept of singularity. Some theories claim that beyond singularity, there are tunnels that act as shortcuts to the ends of the universe.

On the positive side, these black holes could be the gateway to interstellar travel, which until now is impossible due to relativity. However, numerous complications hinder this possibility. The most prominent complication is that the strong gravity of a black hole would destroy any interstellar spacecraft travelling through it. This is a challenge that would need addressing before interstellar travel is possible.

Interesting Facts About Saturn

Posted on the August 22nd, 2009 under Our Solar System by Aaron

Discover Interesting Things about Saturn

Saturn is a unique planet. Apart from its unique appearance due to its rings, there are other interesting facts that make it a unique and intriguing object on the solar system. Here is a list of some of the interesting facts about Saturn

Only Four Spacecrafts Have Visited Saturn

Up to date, only four spacecrafts have been to Saturn and only one managed to capture some photographs. Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to visit Saturn and managed to travel a distance of 20,000km within this planet. The second was Voyager 1 in 1980 and then Voyager 2 visited in 1981. None of these three stayed long enough to capture enough data about Saturn. In 2004, NASA’s Cassini became the fourth spacecraft to visit Saturn and go around it taking photographs of the planet capturing the rings and the moons.

Ancient Explorers Thought the Rings on Saturn Were Moons

In 1610, Galileo became the first scientist to view Saturn using a rudimentary telescope. When he saw the rings, he wasn’t sure what they were and he suspected that the two were large moons stuck on both sides of the planet. Later, Cristian Huygens used a powerful and sophisticate telescope that showed the rings clearly for what they are.

Pluto not a Planet after all

Posted on the May 22nd, 2009 under Our Solar System by Aaron

The New Definition of Planets – Pluto Not A True Planet

Astronomers have agreed on a new definition of the word planet leading them to disqualify Pluto as a true planet. After making new discoveries, astronomers settled on a new definition of what a true planet is and Pluto does not fit the new definition. Pluto is now a planetoid or dwarf planet. For a long time, Pluto was the ninth planet and the furthest from the sun. This definition means there are only eight true planets left in the solar system. Pluto joins a huge family of more than 40 planetoids already discovered and more expected to be found. Other dwarf planets include the asteroid Ceres and Xena.

The International Astronomical Union (IUE) is responsible for setting the names for celestial bodies. For years, scientists have been looking for the most appropriate and scientifically correct definition of a planet. This new definition of Pluto passed after a majority of the scientists in this panel voted in support of it during a meeting held in Prague, in the Czech Republic, majority of the scientists supported the new planet definition.

The New Definition of the Word Planet

The new scientific meaning of the word planet is a body that travels around the sun, is large enough and rounded due to its own strong sense of gravity. It should also dominate the surrounding areas of its orbit path around the sun. For any object to qualify as a full planet, it has to meet all these factors.