THE UNIVERSE

1
THE UNIVERSE

• Mr. Fatolitis
• Science Class

2
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.
3
OUR ADDRESS

• Clearwater Fundamental Middle School
• 1665 Palmetto Street
• Clearwater
• Florida
• United States
• Earth
• Solar System
• Milky Way Galaxy
• Universe

4
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.

5
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
• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• Gaseous atmospheres
• Small rocky core
• Ring system of ice, rock and dust

6
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.

7
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.

8
How are distances in the universe measured?

• A light year is the distance that light travels
  in one year. IT IS NOT A TIME, ITS A
  DISTANCE!!!
• Light travels through space at 300,000 km/s, or
  about 9.5 trillion km in one year.

9
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.