Formation of the

Universe and Galaxies

COSMOLOGY
•It is the understanding of the
origin, evolution, structure and fate
of the universe.
•
 The Creation in Rig Veda 10:129
The Paradox of Origin
(ancient Indian collection of more than one thousand Vedic Sanskrit hymns)

1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no

realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and
where? And what gave shelter? Was water there,
unfathomed depth of water?
2. death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign
was there, the day's and night's divider. That one thing,
breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was
nothing whatsoever.
3. darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this all
was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void
and form less: by the great power of warmth was born that
unit.
4. primal seed and germ of spirit. Sages who
searched with their heart's thought discovered the
existent's kinship in the non-existent.
5. ….
6. who verily knows and who can here declare it,
whence it was born and whence comes this
creation? The gods are later than this world's
production. Who knows then whence it first came
into being?
7. he, the first origin of this creation, whether he
formed it all or did not form it, whose eye controls
this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or
perhaps he knows not.
 First to propose that the Earth was not
the center of the universe, but a central
fire, around which other celestial
objects revolved uniformly

Propose a heliocentric model of the

universe
 Viewed that the center of the cosmos is
the Earth, and was accepted until 16th
century

Popularized a geocentric model wherein

celestial bodies revolved around the Earth
 suggested that Earth and the other
planets in the solar system in fact
orbited the sun, creating a profound
shift in the understanding of the cosmos
But First! What is a Light
Year??
THE LIGHT YEAR

•A light year is a way of measuring

distance. That doesn't make much
sense because "light year" contains
the word "year," which is normally a
unit of time.
•Even so, light years measure
distance.
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per
second).

Therefore, a light second is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers).

A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year, or:
186,000 miles/second * 60 seconds/minute * 60 minutes/hour * 24
hours/day * 365 days/year = 5,865,696,000,000 miles/year
OR…… 1 LIGHT YEAR
• The universe began
with a hot explosion
called the Big Bang.
The aftermath of the
Big Bang consisted
mostly of radiation, but
as things cooled, the
elements hydrogen
and helium formed.
• http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/h
u/explore_astronomy/skywatc
h/db/307/audio/SkyWatch_30
7-11252010.mp3
• Big Bang Theory - Evidence for the Theory
• First of all, we are reasonably certain that the universe had
a beginning.
• Second, galaxies appear to be moving away from us at
speeds proportional to their distance. This is called
"Hubble's Law.” This observation supports the expansion
of the universe and suggests that the universe was once
compacted.
• Third, if the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big
Bang suggests, we should be able to find some remnant of
this heat. In 1965, this was discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-
454.765 degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic Microwave Background
radiation (CMB) which pervades the observable universe.
• Finally, the abundance of the "light elements" Hydrogen
and Helium found in the observable universe are thought
to support the Big Bang model of origins.
 What is a “nebula”?

A cloud in space
Made of gas and dust
• Can have stars inside
Most of the ones we see are inside our Milky
Way Galaxy
Different types

Orion image at
The Solar Nebula Theory

Basis of modern theory

of planet formation.

Planets form at the

same time from the
same cloud as the star.

Planet formation sites

observed today as dust
disks of T Tauri stars.

Sun and our solar system

formed ~ 5 billion years ago.
• a), (b) The solar nebula contracts and
flattens into a spinning disk. The large
blob in the center will become the Sun.
Smaller blobs in the outer regions may
become jovian planets.
• (c) Dust grains act as condensation nuclei,
forming clumps of matter that collide,
stick together, and grow into moon-sized
planetesimals.
• (d) Strong winds from the still-forming
Sun expel the nebular gas.
• (e) Planetesimals continue to collide and
grow.
• (f) Over the course of a hundred million
years or so, planetesimals form a few
large planets that travel in roughly
circular orbits.
So… Big Bang & Solar Nebular?
How are they related?
• The Big Bang Theory considers the creation of all the matter and
energy that exists in the universe.. Anywhere..

• The Solar Nebula theory uses that matter and energy, to create
galaxies and solar systems.
 What is a “galaxy”?

A large group of stars outside of our own Milky Way

Made of billions to trillions of stars
• Also may have gas and dust
Spiral, or elliptical, or irregular shaped

Image at
 Spiral galaxy--Andromeda

NOAO/AURA/NSF Images at
 Elliptical Galaxies

Images at
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/elliptical/2007/08/image/
 Irregular Galaxies

NASA and NOAO/AURA/NSF Images at

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/irregular/2005/09/res
Our Galaxy: the Milky Way
• has about 200 billion stars, and lots of gas and dust
• is a barred-spiral (we think)
• about 100,000 light-years wide
• our Sun is halfway to the edge, revolving at half a million miles per
hour around the center of the Galaxy
• takes our Solar System about 200 million years to revolve once
around our galaxy
The Milky Way

Image at