Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bigger and bigger

Planets
Earth may feel big to us, but at 12,756 km (7,962 miles) across , it is just a speck in an expanding Universe.
Stars
Planets orbits stars - our star is the Sun. Without it there would be no life. It measures 1.4 million km(870,000 miles) across.
Galaxies
Stars exists in galaxies, colossal star systems that come in a range of sizes and shapes. Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Cluster
Galaxies exist in clusters - the milky way Galaxy is in the local group cluster, stretching 10 million light years across.
Super-cluster
Galaxy clusters are within super-clusters - we are in the Virgo super-cluster, 200 million light years from one side to other.
Voids
The largest structures in the Universe are chains of super-clusters that are separated bu huge empty voids.

The name game

The term "Big Bang" was coined by Fred Hoyle in 1950 to illustrate to his radio listeners the difference between it and his own theory, "Steady State", where the Universe has no beginning.

How was the Universe created?

01.All it started with a Big Bang - a massive explosion that lasts for less than one trillionth of a second that will create tiny particles of radiation smaller than the size of a full stop.
02.After 380,000 years the first atom  was formed with 74% hydrogen and 24% helium.
03.After 1 billion years the first stars were formed, and there were dwarf galaxies throughout the Universe.
04.When the Universe was 3 billion years old, small galaxies were merged to form massive ones.
05.When 9 million years old, our Solar System was formed in the Milky Way Galaxy.