origin of the universe and the solar system

geology

science of Earth

meteorology

science of atmosphere

astronomy

science of universe

oceanography

science of oceans

creation myth

• from genesis

• everything came from a superior being called God or Deity

rigveda

• from india

• universe is oscillating

• brahmanda expands out of a bindu and will eventually collapse again

brahmanda

“cosmic egg”

bindu

single point where the universe expands out of

primordial universe theory

• by anaxagoras

• the original state of the cosmos was primordial mixture of all its ingredients which existed in infinitesimally small fragments

atomic universe

• from leucippus and democritus

• the universe was composed of very small, indivisible, and indestructible atoms and all objects are composed of these atoms

geocentric universe

• aristotle and ptolemy

• universe revolves around the earth

heliocentric universe

• nicolaus copernicus

• motion of celestial bodies could be explained without putting earth at the center

big bang theory

• alexander friedman and georges lamaitre in 1920

• 13.7 Billion years ago there was nothing

• great explosion occured

• tiny compact point called singularity

inflationary epoch

10^-35 seconds

expansion of the universe

formation of universe

10^-6 seconds

quarks, electrons, photons, and neutrinos

basic elements formation

3 seconds

protons + neutrons to form H+ nuclei. H+ nuclei began to combine to form He nucleic

• nucleosynthesis

radiation era

10,000 years

formed the cosmic microwave background radiation —> radiation left over from early development of the universe

matter domination

30,000 years

lithium began to be formed. electrons joined with H and He nuclei to make small neutral atoms

stars and galaxies

300 million years

areas of gas became denser and then collapsed resulting to ignition

• this huge clouds of gas will give birth to more stars and group of stars will form galaxies

flatness

(problems with the big bang)

• the big bang theory says that there should be curvature as time grows but the wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (WMAP) revealed that there isn’t

horizon

(problems with big bang)

• based on the big bang expansion, distant regions of space in opposite directions are so far apart that they could never have been in contact with each other.

monopole

(problems with big bang)

• the big bang theory predicted the production of heavy stable magnetic monopoles in the early universe but at present, there were no observable magnetic monopoles

inflation theory

• alan guth, andrei linde, paul steinhart and andy albrecht

• solutions to the problems of big bang

• there was a period of exponential expansion prior to the big bang expansion

flatness

(solution to big bang problems)

• inflation stretches any initial curvature of the universe

horizon

(solution to the big bang problems)

• exponential expansion in the early universe presupposes that the distant regions were much closer to each other prior to inflation

monopole

(solution to the big bang problems)

• the inflation theory allows the existence of monopoles provided they were produced prior to the period of inflation

steady state theory

• hermann bondi, thomas gold, and fred hoyle in 1948

• the universe is always expanding but maintaining a constant average density

oscillating universe theory

• our universe can be the first of a possible series of universes or it can be the nth universe in the series

• beginning with a big bang and ending in a big crunch

multiverse theory

• andrei linde from inflation theory

• universe is one of hte many bubbles

• hugh everett and bryce dewitt had popularized the concept of many worlds srtucture in the 1960s and 1970s

collision theory

• george louis leclerc, comte de buffon (1707-1788)

• the planets wwere formed by the collision of the sun with a giant comet

tidal theory

• sir james hopwood jeans and harold jeffreys theory

• the planets were formed from the substance that were torn out of hte sun when a massive star passed near the sun, in which the materials condensed to planets

nebular theory

• descartes, immanuel kant (1724-1804) and pierre simon laplace (1749-1827)

• a great cloud of gas and dust called nebula begins to collapse because of gravitational pull

solar nebular/protoplanet theory

• the solar system was formed as a result of condensation of hydrogen gas and dust called as interstellar gas and dust cloud

planetisimals

formed from first stage of accretion of grain sized particles from the nebula

protoplanets

massive objects that are formed from the coalescing planetisimals

ceres

first known asteroid

kuiper belt

outermost region of the solar system where halley’s comet came from

oort cloud

farther than the kuiper belt

terrestrial planets

• earth-like planets or sometimes referred as “inner planets”

• composed mostly of dense, rocky, and metallic materials

• have molten metal core, few moons, and topological features such as valleys, volcanoes and craters

jovian planets

• jupiter-like planets or gas planets

• composed mostly of hydrogen and helium

pluto

• orbits the sun

• has sufficient mass for its self gravity

• is not a satelite

• dwarf planet