The Gaia-Eso Study has Revealed New Information about Our Galaxy

It is the leftover material that did not get swept into the sun or flung far out into the galaxy but was just far enough away to stay in the sun’s orbit. The Kuiper Belt is a donut or disc shaped area made up of mostly icy or Frozen Volatiles (gases) and some rocky objects that orbit our sun starting just outside of Neptune’s orbit. The donut shaped area spans from 30 to 50 times Earth’s distance from the sun which is 2.5 to 4.5 billion miles. The distance is also reported in astronomical units, Shortened as AU. One AU is the distance of the Earth to the Sun. Thus, the Kuiper Belt spans from about 30 to 50 AU. The Kuiper Belt contains trillions of these icy or rocky objects with thousands being larger objects more than 62 miles in diameter. The Kuiper belt also contains round objects too small to be considered a planet but too large to be considered an asteroid. These objects are classified as dwarf planets. Dwarf planets also have an odd orbit and don’t clear the space around them like regular planets. The best known KBO is the dwarf planet Pluto. Interestingly, when Pluto was first identified, astronomers did not realize it was in the Kuiper Belt, since the Kuiper Belt was officially identified after Pluto was

In our Milky Way galaxy, there are over a hundred billion stars, and within the universe there are billions of galaxies (Classifying Stars). Astronomers have always come up with different techniques to make their jobs easier. One important technique in, not only astronomy but science itself, is trying to classify something into groups to find a certain pattern. Since there are so many stars in a single galaxy, astronomers must find methods for organization. Stars are not all the same, they vary in size, temperature, and brightness. To keep track of all these different characteristics, astronomers had to come up with a diagram. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is one of the most useful plots for stellar astronomy (Classifying Stars). The diagram

In inspiring people to have the passion in understanding the universal laws that govern us all, Professor Stephen Hawking reminds us on his speech for his 70th birthday to “remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet” (enoch, 2012). Many scientists have been “looking up” and have discovered answers to the many questions that we have of the universe for ages. They have constructed theories, launched satellites, observed stellar phenomena, and even sent living beings in space to gain more understanding of the existence of everything. After centuries of research and observation, there are still some aspects of Astronomy that are still to be explored. One of them is the evolution of the Solar System, which is composed of the Sun and everything that travels around it. This includes eight planets and their natural satellites such as the Earth’s moon; dwarf planets such as Pluto and Ceres; asteroids; comets and meteoroids (Solar System Exploration, 2014). The Solar System is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a part of a galactic group under the Virgo Supercluster. Figure 1 shows the location of our Solar System in the Universe. Many theories have been proposed on how the Solar System existed, but none has been completely successful. This spans from the time of the Ancient Greeks to the present 21st Century. As of now, the widely accepted theory is the Nebular Theory, which describes how the Solar System started as a large cloud of gas that contracted under

Texture: It feels like a wash sponge,but a little more softer and kind of gooey.

In 1920, two astronomers named Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis had a big public debate. They argued about a lot of things, but the main thing they were arguing about was the size of the Milky Way and whether or not there were other galaxies like ours in the universe. Shapley had figured out that the Milky Way was a lot bigger than people thought before, and he was right, but because of that he also believed that there couldn't be other galaxies like ours out there. Curtis, on the other hand, thought the Milky Way was smaller than it actually is, but argued that there might be other galaxies like ours out there.

Throughout the second chapter of Investigating Astronomy: A Conceptual View of the Universe, authors Timothy Slater and Roger

The Hubble space telescopes findings have transformed the way scientist view the universe. Hubble has sent some of the most detailed images of the cosmos. These images have been the best images that humankind has ever seen. Over the years it has send back images of mysterious black holes, life cycle of star and picture of new planets. Even photos of the universe shortly after the big bang. Before hubble some of the most remarkable cosmic phenomenon such as black holes, were unable to be examined as they trap all light. Hubble was able to describe black holes due to what occurred around them. As black holes devour the the remaining of galaxies and hot cosmic

Although, it is happening in some of the closer galaxies such as NGC 253. The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed very luminous star clusters, dust lanes, dense gas and glowing gas in the core of this starburst galaxy. The Hubble Space Telescope has also recognized several regions of extreme star formation, that also includes a bright and very compacted star cluster, which confirms the theory that stars are often born in dense star clusters inside of

The galaxies and space have been around for thousands and thousands of years, with our own galaxy and solar system only existing for a fraction of that amount of time. Scientists have been fascinated with researching space, the various galaxies, and planets in the solar system to try to understand their complex nature and forms. Certain scientists will gather their research by joining professional institutions that work towards the goal of uncovering and exploring the universe’s secrets. These institutions and scientists conduct their research in a variety of ways, such as sending robots they built to different planets in order to study what the planet’s materials are made out of and what types of weather patterns happen on the different planets. Other scientists can choose a different path where they use their own means to conduct their research, like working in their own private labs or renting equipment to use for the purpose of studying their exact field of scientific interest. Then there are people who didn’t go to school to get an educational degree specializing in science, but have an intense fascination with certain

In conclusion this unit on astronomy and cosmology helped me understand that there is so much more to the universe than I had initially thought. There is so much more that goes on and our knowledge will only increase as technology makes our ability to learn more about the depths of our

bands as all the stars of its (∼ 1011 L ) host galaxy, while a typical QSO is by a factor of

The stage was set for a “Great Debate” that occurred at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington in 1920. At issue were the fuzzy “spiral nebulae” (which today we call galaxies): Were they close enough to be part of our own Milky Way, or were they sufficiently distant to be whole galaxies unto themselves? Shapley held that, given that his research had revised an increase in theinupward the size of the Milky Way, the spiral nebulae must be part of our own Galaxy. His opponent, Heber Curtis of California’s Lick Observatory, while incorrectly rejecting the great size of our Galaxy, correctly argued that the spirals were removed aggregates of stars similar to the Milky Way. Both men presented other scientific arguments supporting their views,

“Active galactic nuclei” are objects occupying the center of many galaxies that consist of an accreting supermassive black hole and are some of the most luminous and powerful bodies in our known Universe. In the galactic-BH accretion process, gaseous matter from the galaxy is pulled into the black hole and is converted to into radiation that is then released radially outward into the host galaxy. Due to the rapid-fire accretion onto the Supermassive Black Hole, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can emit radiation into their host galaxies that span much of the electromagnetic spectrum from X-rays, IR, UV, and radio waves. Researchers have organized AGN into groups based on their

However, Romano Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain) and collaborators, in a paper published in the European journal Astronomy and Astrophysics in April 2004, have instead shown that the formation of these rings is likely to be the rule rather than the

Thanks to the Hubble the universe is estimated to be about 13 to 14 billion years old and its evolution, along with numerous scientific articles, is more accurately calculated based on the data provided by telescope. The amount of discovery based on the observations made by the Hubble Telescope since its inauguration have made it one the most important observatories in astronomy. This legacy will continue past its retirement with Hubble’s tenure providing the foundation for future space