In the movie Knowing, the Earth was hit and destroyed by a huge solar flare. Although there were astronauts were constantly monitoring the activity of the Sun, they did not expect such an event. Just like in this movie, there are still events that astronomers cannot understand or predict with the technology that they are using. However, great advances in technology always produced new ways for an astronaut to observe those in the outer space.
One of these new technologies is the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). SDO is a new satellite made by NASA to observe Space Weather and the Sun. It is the first satellite launched under the Living with a Star Program of NASA and has a scheduled launch date on February 11, 2010. The SDO is expected to collect huge amount of data, being able to fill an entire disc every 36 second. Though SDO collects vast amount of information, it has no recording system of its own and thus, must communicate for data recording with the SDOs ground station which is located in New Mexico. In order to make this work, the satellite must be placed in a geosynchronous orbit. This means that SDO must have the same rotation speed as the Earths and should be directly above the ground station in New Mexico.
SDO will be comprised of several instruments, each with a different functionality. Some of the parameters that the satellite will observe are the magnetic field of the Sun, the surface velocity, the amount of extreme ultraviolet rays and the ripples on the surface of the Sun. Generally, it will monitor the Suns activity and its properties.
These data will bring better understanding of the Sun. With these data the astronomers can know what is possible happening inside the Sun that creates the events on its surface. This can also help in predicting the solar variations that can greatly affect the Earths survival and the life forms within it.
II.
That the earth is the center of the universe is the beliefs of ancient people. Many astronomers of antiquity even made models to explain this theory. The most accepted of these is the Ptolemaic universe. It states that all other planets revolve around a circle and that the center of the circle revolves around the earth. The Sun and the Moon must have been revolving around the earth since it is intuitively impossible that the Moon revolves around the earth while the earth revolves around the Sun.
This theory was questioned many times but remained accepted for over 1600 years. However, Galileo Galilei, a mathematician and astronomer, provided some evidences that shattered the foundation of Ptolemaic universe. He assembled a simple telescope and observed the night sky religiously. One of the events he noticed is that the Venus goes trough phases. If the Ptolemaic universe is right, then Venus cannot be seen from Earth as fully illuminated since its orbit is between the Earth and the Sun. However, Galileo saw that it go through a complete set of phases, proving that there is something wrong with the Ptolemaic universe.
Galileo also noticed that Jupiter has four satellites orbiting it. This opens the argument that if Jupiter can revolve around something while keeping its satellites, why cant Earth. Thus, there is a possibility that Earth also revolves around something while the Moon revolves around it.
Galileo also saw the rings of Saturn but did not recognize it as such. These discoveries that he made provided great evidences that he used to dethrone the Ptolemaic universe.
III.
1. The usual value used by astronomers for the diameter of the Milky Way is 30 kpa or about 100 000 ly. This is equivalent to 92.57034 x 1016 km.
2. The solar system is 23 the distance from the center to the edge. This is approximately 10 kpa. Besides stars, the Milky Way is composed of open star clusters and gas and dust. Cosmic rays, mostly protons and electrons, are also scattered in the galaxy.
3. Pop I or Population I stars belong to the disk component of the galaxy. They are relatively young stars that are rich in elements heavier that Helium, ranging from 2 -3. Pop II or population II stars belong to the spherical component of the galaxy. They are usually older stars. They contains only about 0.1 of elements heavier than Helium.
4. The interstellar dust tends to make a star fainter, thus making it appear farther than it should be.
5. There are four ways of determining the mass of the Milky Way. First id called the rotation curved method. This uses the radius of orbit of a star on the galaxy and its period. The second is double galaxy method. This treats two galaxies as a pair of binary stars. The approximate mass for this method would be the average mass for many pair of galaxies. Third is the cluster method. This uses the radial velocity of galaxies in a cluster and the size of the cluster. Last is the velocity dispersion method, a version of the cluster method. Instead of using galaxies in a cluster, this method uses stars in the galaxy.
6. If the universe is contracting, then it would be observed that the wavelength of the radiation is getting smaller as it travels the universe.
7. The stars orbit in an elliptical galaxy is smaller than the stars orbit in a spiral galaxy.
8. The galaxies in our Local Group do not orbit in the same plane.
9. The galaxies on our Local Group are less likely to leave because of they are bounded by mutual gravitational attraction.
10. The mass of a galaxy can produce large gravitational field. This gravitational field can deflect the path of light that passes it. A star whose light was deflected by the field can be seen on earth with multiple images. This is called the gravitational lens effect.
11. Red shifts are caused by the movement of an observer away from the source of a signal. For the stars, it is caused by the expansion of the universe.
12. Cosmic microwave radiation is emitted during the early stage of Big Bang and appears to be background noise received by an antenna measuring radio brightness of stars.
13. Planets are thousands of degrees colder than a star. They do not produce heat from nuclear fusion unlike stars.
14. The center of the cluster of cloud is dense on the center due to the gravitational contraction, which could be triggered by a supernova explosion.
15. Smaller planets generally have rocky surfaces while larger planets have gaseous surfaces.
16. The Moon revolves around its orbit and rotates on its own axis for a period of 27.322 earth days thus, the lunar day is expected to be 13.7 earth days.
17. The surface of Mercury looks like of the Moons. It is heavily battered, with craters of all sizes. Its most remarkable difference with the Moon is that it lacks the lava plains the Moon has.
18. If you walk in Mars without wearing a spacesuit, an instant dead awaits you. Because of the thin atmosphere of the planet (with only traces of oxygen), the near-vacuum atmosphere can kill you primarily because of suffocation. Your eardrums and lungs may burst instantly. After youre dead, nitrogen will be boiled away from your blood.
19. The craters on the surface of the Moon were produced by its impact with meteorites. Earth does not have these craters because most of the meteors that enter the atmosphere were burned before it can hit the Earths surface. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, the meteors can make a direct hit to its surface.
20. The velocity of a satellite with distance R from the center of a planet of mass M is equal to (GMR)12. Since Jupiter mass is almost 318 times the mass of earth, Jupiters satellite Io can move at a faster velocity than the Moon.
One of these new technologies is the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). SDO is a new satellite made by NASA to observe Space Weather and the Sun. It is the first satellite launched under the Living with a Star Program of NASA and has a scheduled launch date on February 11, 2010. The SDO is expected to collect huge amount of data, being able to fill an entire disc every 36 second. Though SDO collects vast amount of information, it has no recording system of its own and thus, must communicate for data recording with the SDOs ground station which is located in New Mexico. In order to make this work, the satellite must be placed in a geosynchronous orbit. This means that SDO must have the same rotation speed as the Earths and should be directly above the ground station in New Mexico.
SDO will be comprised of several instruments, each with a different functionality. Some of the parameters that the satellite will observe are the magnetic field of the Sun, the surface velocity, the amount of extreme ultraviolet rays and the ripples on the surface of the Sun. Generally, it will monitor the Suns activity and its properties.
These data will bring better understanding of the Sun. With these data the astronomers can know what is possible happening inside the Sun that creates the events on its surface. This can also help in predicting the solar variations that can greatly affect the Earths survival and the life forms within it.
II.
That the earth is the center of the universe is the beliefs of ancient people. Many astronomers of antiquity even made models to explain this theory. The most accepted of these is the Ptolemaic universe. It states that all other planets revolve around a circle and that the center of the circle revolves around the earth. The Sun and the Moon must have been revolving around the earth since it is intuitively impossible that the Moon revolves around the earth while the earth revolves around the Sun.
This theory was questioned many times but remained accepted for over 1600 years. However, Galileo Galilei, a mathematician and astronomer, provided some evidences that shattered the foundation of Ptolemaic universe. He assembled a simple telescope and observed the night sky religiously. One of the events he noticed is that the Venus goes trough phases. If the Ptolemaic universe is right, then Venus cannot be seen from Earth as fully illuminated since its orbit is between the Earth and the Sun. However, Galileo saw that it go through a complete set of phases, proving that there is something wrong with the Ptolemaic universe.
Galileo also noticed that Jupiter has four satellites orbiting it. This opens the argument that if Jupiter can revolve around something while keeping its satellites, why cant Earth. Thus, there is a possibility that Earth also revolves around something while the Moon revolves around it.
Galileo also saw the rings of Saturn but did not recognize it as such. These discoveries that he made provided great evidences that he used to dethrone the Ptolemaic universe.
III.
1. The usual value used by astronomers for the diameter of the Milky Way is 30 kpa or about 100 000 ly. This is equivalent to 92.57034 x 1016 km.
2. The solar system is 23 the distance from the center to the edge. This is approximately 10 kpa. Besides stars, the Milky Way is composed of open star clusters and gas and dust. Cosmic rays, mostly protons and electrons, are also scattered in the galaxy.
3. Pop I or Population I stars belong to the disk component of the galaxy. They are relatively young stars that are rich in elements heavier that Helium, ranging from 2 -3. Pop II or population II stars belong to the spherical component of the galaxy. They are usually older stars. They contains only about 0.1 of elements heavier than Helium.
4. The interstellar dust tends to make a star fainter, thus making it appear farther than it should be.
5. There are four ways of determining the mass of the Milky Way. First id called the rotation curved method. This uses the radius of orbit of a star on the galaxy and its period. The second is double galaxy method. This treats two galaxies as a pair of binary stars. The approximate mass for this method would be the average mass for many pair of galaxies. Third is the cluster method. This uses the radial velocity of galaxies in a cluster and the size of the cluster. Last is the velocity dispersion method, a version of the cluster method. Instead of using galaxies in a cluster, this method uses stars in the galaxy.
6. If the universe is contracting, then it would be observed that the wavelength of the radiation is getting smaller as it travels the universe.
7. The stars orbit in an elliptical galaxy is smaller than the stars orbit in a spiral galaxy.
8. The galaxies in our Local Group do not orbit in the same plane.
9. The galaxies on our Local Group are less likely to leave because of they are bounded by mutual gravitational attraction.
10. The mass of a galaxy can produce large gravitational field. This gravitational field can deflect the path of light that passes it. A star whose light was deflected by the field can be seen on earth with multiple images. This is called the gravitational lens effect.
11. Red shifts are caused by the movement of an observer away from the source of a signal. For the stars, it is caused by the expansion of the universe.
12. Cosmic microwave radiation is emitted during the early stage of Big Bang and appears to be background noise received by an antenna measuring radio brightness of stars.
13. Planets are thousands of degrees colder than a star. They do not produce heat from nuclear fusion unlike stars.
14. The center of the cluster of cloud is dense on the center due to the gravitational contraction, which could be triggered by a supernova explosion.
15. Smaller planets generally have rocky surfaces while larger planets have gaseous surfaces.
16. The Moon revolves around its orbit and rotates on its own axis for a period of 27.322 earth days thus, the lunar day is expected to be 13.7 earth days.
17. The surface of Mercury looks like of the Moons. It is heavily battered, with craters of all sizes. Its most remarkable difference with the Moon is that it lacks the lava plains the Moon has.
18. If you walk in Mars without wearing a spacesuit, an instant dead awaits you. Because of the thin atmosphere of the planet (with only traces of oxygen), the near-vacuum atmosphere can kill you primarily because of suffocation. Your eardrums and lungs may burst instantly. After youre dead, nitrogen will be boiled away from your blood.
19. The craters on the surface of the Moon were produced by its impact with meteorites. Earth does not have these craters because most of the meteors that enter the atmosphere were burned before it can hit the Earths surface. Since the Moon does not have an atmosphere, the meteors can make a direct hit to its surface.
20. The velocity of a satellite with distance R from the center of a planet of mass M is equal to (GMR)12. Since Jupiter mass is almost 318 times the mass of earth, Jupiters satellite Io can move at a faster velocity than the Moon.
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