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According to the
Big Bang model,
the universe
expanded from
an extremely dense
and hot state and
continues to expand
today.
Age of universe
Based on measurements of the expansion using supernovae, measurements of
temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, and measurements of
the correlation function of galaxies, the universe has a calculated age of 13.73 ± 0.12
billion years.
Composition of the universe
The Great Nebula in Orion is one of the most interesting of all astronomical nebulae known. Here 15
pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope have been merged to show the great expanse and diverse
nature of the nebula. In addition to housing a bright open cluster of stars known as the Trapezium, the
Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries. These nurseries contain hydrogen gas, hot young stars,
and stellar jets spewing material at high speeds. The Orion Nebula is located in the same spiral arm of
our Galaxy as is our Sun. It takes light about 1500 years to reach us from there.
M16 Eagle Nebula. The scale of the image on the left is about 1 light year. The blowup on the right
shows finger-like structures that are thought to be regions in which new stars are being formed. The tips
of these finger-like objects are about the size of our Solar System.
Forming the Solar System according to the Nebula hypothesis
A great cloud of gas and dust (called a nebula) begins to collapse because the gravitational forces that would like
to collapse it overcome the forces associated with gas pressure that would like to expand it (the initial collapse
might be triggered by a variety of perturbations-a supernova blast wave, density waves in spiral galaxies, etc.). It
is unlikely that such a nebula would be created with no angular momentum, so it is probably initially spinning
slowly. Because of conservation of angular momentum, the cloud spins faster as it contracts.
Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum
L – angular momentum
m – mass
v – speed
r – radius
p.26-27b
As the nebula collapses further, instabilities in the collapsing, rotating cloud cause local regions to begin to
contract gravitationally. These local regions of condensation will become the Sun and the planets, as well
as their moons and other debris in the Solar System. While they are still condensing, the incipient Sun and
planets are called the protosun and protoplanets, respectively.
Bombardment of an embryonic planet by planetesimals. The impacts of
planetesimals on the planet’s surface deposit large enough to cause explosions,
partial melting and lava eruptions.
Gravity reshapes the proto-
Earth into a sphere. The
interior of the Earth separates
p.26-27c
into a core and mantle.
Forming the planets from planetesimals:
Planetesimals grow by continuous collisions.
original artwork by Gary Hincks
Gradually, an irregularly shaped proto-Earth
develops. The interior heats up and becomes soft.
1.A cloud of interstellar gas and/or dust (the "solar nebula") is disturbed and collapses under its own gravity. The
disturbance could be, for example, the shock wave from a nearby supernova.
2.As the cloud collapses, it heats up and compresses in the center. It heats enough for the dust to vaporize. The initial
collapse is supposed to take less than 100,000 years.
3.The center compresses enough to become a protostar and the rest of the gas orbits/flows around it. Most of that gas
flows inward and adds to the mass of the forming star, but the gas is rotating. The centrifugal force from that prevents
some of the gas from reaching the forming star. Instead, it forms an "accretion disk" around the star. The disk radiates
away its energy and cools off.
4.First brake point. Depending on the details, the gas orbiting star/protostar may be unstable and start to compress
under its own gravity. That produces a double star. If it doesn't ...
5.The gas cools off enough for the metal, rock and (far enough from the forming star) ice to condense out into tiny
particles. The metals condense almost as soon as the accretion disk forms (4.55-4.56 billion years ago according to
isotope measurements of certain meteorites); the rock condenses a bit later (between 4.4 and 4.55 billion years ago).
6.The dust particles collide with each other and form larger particles. This goes on until the particles get to the size
of boulders or small asteroids.
7. Run away growth. Once the larger of these particles get big enough to have a nontrivial gravity, their growth
accelerates. Their gravity (even if it's very small) gives them an edge over smaller particles; it pulls in more,
smaller particles, and very quickly, the large objects have accumulated all of the solid matter close to their own
orbit. How big they get depends on their distance from the star and the density and composition of the
protoplanetary nebula. In the solar system, the theories say that this is large asteroid to lunar size in the inner solar
system, and one to fifteen times the Earth's size in the outer solar system. There would have been a big jump in size
somewhere between the current orbits of Mars and Jupiter: the energy from the Sun would have kept ice a vapor at
closer distances, so the solid, accretable matter would become much more common beyond a critical distance from
the Sun. The accretion of these "planetesimals" is believed to take a few hundred thousand to about twenty million
years, with the outermost taking the longest to form.
8.How big were those protoplanets and how quickly did they form? At about this time, about 1 million years after
the nebula cooled, the star would generate a very strong solar wind, which would sweep away all of the gas left in
the protoplanetary nebula. If a protoplanet was large enough, soon enough, its gravity would pull in the nebular
gas, and it would become a gas giant. If not, it would remain a rocky or icy body.
9.At this point, the solar system is composed only of solid, protoplanetary bodies and gas giants. The
"planetesimals" would slowly collide with each other and become more massive.
10.Eventually, after ten to a hundred million years, you end up with ten or so planets, in stable orbits, and that's a
solar system. These planets and their surfaces may be heavily modified by the last, big collisions they experience
(e.g. the largely metal composition of Mercury or the Moon).
Zones in the Solar system
Because of the original angular momentum and subsequent evolution of the collapsing nebula, this
hypothesis provides a natural explanation for some basic facts about the Solar System:
1) the orbits of the planets lie nearly in a plane (ecliptic plane) with the sun at the center
3) the planets mostly rotate in the same direction with rotation axes nearly perpendicular to the
orbital plane.
Side view of the inner Solar System
In this figure the white portion of the
orbit is above the ecliptic plane and
the yellow portion is below.
The plane of the ecliptic is well seen in this picture from the lunar
prospecting Clementine spacecraft. Clementine's camera reveals (from right
to left) the Moon lit by Earthshine, the Sun's glare rising over the Moon's
dark limb, and the planets Saturn, Mars and Mercury (the three dots at lower
left).
The inner Solar System to scale The entire Solar System
Is Solar System still evolving?
Evolution of orbits of planets
and other bodies in the Solar System
Numerous collisions were occuring during the early stages of formation of the Solar System
Origin of Moon
Simulation of 23 hours
Canup and Asphaug
(Nature, 2001)
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
was a comet that broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994,
providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects
Although much more slowly the Solar System is still evolving today. Trajectories of planetary bodies are
perturbed, bringing the bodies on a collision course from time to time…
Art by ED LOPEZ
Triton's low orbit around its parent planet Neptune will result in its
destruction some 3.6 billion years in the future
Earth’s movements
As the Earth spins around its axis and orbits around the Sun, several
quasi-periodic variations occur, resulting from gravitational interactions
between the Earth, Sun and other planets. Although the curves have a
large number of sinusoidal components, a few components are dominant.
Milankovitch studied changes in the of Earth's movements (movie “Sun”).
Timescales of the changes: tens to hundreds of thousands of years
1) Materials released from comets when they approach Sun and are warmed by its heat
10
1 H 2.66 × 10 23 V 254
2 He 1..9 × 109 24 Cr 1.27 × 104 Iron has the most stable
3 Li 60 25 Mn 9300
5
nuclide, i.e. the highest
4 Be 1.2 26 Fe 9.0 × 10
binding energy per
5 B 45 27 Co 2200
6 C 1.11 × 107 28 Ni 4.78 × 10
4 nucleon
7 N 2.31 × 106 29 Cu 540
7
8 O 1.84 × 10 30 Zn 1260
9 F 780 31 Ga 38
6
10 Ne 2.4 × 10 32 Ge 117
4
11 Na 6.0 × 10 33 As 6.2
6
12 Mg 1.06 × 10 34 Se 67
4
13 Al 8.5 × 10 35 Br 9.2
6
14 Si 1.00 × 10 36 Kr 41.3
5
16 S 5.0 × 10 37 Rb 6.1
17 Cl 4740 38 Sr 22.9
5
18 Ar 1.06 × 10 39 Y 4.8
19 K 3500 40 Zr 12
4
20 Ca 6.25 × 10 41 Nb 0.9
21 Sc 31 42 Mo 4.0
22 Ti 2400
(a)
Cameron, 1981.
Deep Impact mission, a first look inside a comet
In 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact mission created a crater in Comet Tempel 1 and enabled
to study the freshly exposed material for clues to the early formation of the solar system
Jupiter 1.33
Saturn 0.71
Uranus 1.24
Neptune 1.67
Pluto 2.03
Fig. 1.16
W. W. Norton
Water-rich Earth
The presented lecture can be downloaded from the Studentportalen (pdf-format file).
Weblinks
http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/ http://www.nasa.gov http://en.wikipedia.org