1 / 20

Structure and Evolution of the Universe

History of Astronomy. Structure and Evolution of the Universe. We can describe a model as a Paradigm, or our “ World View ” Astronomy has seen 3 major paradigms. 2nd Century: Claudius Ptolemy (physics of Aristotle) View: Geostatic cosmology

fifi
Download Presentation

Structure and Evolution of the Universe

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. History of Astronomy Structure and Evolution of the Universe

  2. We can describe a model as a Paradigm, or our “World View” Astronomy has seen 3 major paradigms. 2nd Century: Claudius Ptolemy (physics of Aristotle) View: Geostatic cosmology Big Idea: Different laws for Earth and the cosmos 16th Century: Nicolaus Copernicus (physics of Newton) View: Heliocentric cosmology Big Idea: Universal physics; same laws everywhere 20th Century: Edwin Hubble (physics of Einstein) View: Big Bang Cosmology Big Idea: universe is changing, evolving

  3. How to use your model of the Universe: Success! Model Prediction Observation Failure! Refine

  4. How to use your model of the Universe: Success! Model Prediction Observation Crisis! Failure!

  5. “The heavens are perfect and unchanging in Time.” Claudius Ptolemy 100-170 AD Geostatic cosmology Aristotle

  6. Prediction: Future planetary positions Observation: retrograde motion of planets Refine: epicycles Success! For 1500 years

  7. Prediction: Phases of Venus Crisis! Observation: Full set of phases (Galileo)

  8. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543 Heliocentric cosmology

  9. Refine: elliptical orbits (Johannes Kepler 1571-1630) Prediction: Future planetary positions Observation: No better than Ptolemy

  10. Prediction: Observed shift in position of stars (parallax) as the earth Moves around the Sun. Observation: No shift. Crisis? No, but we had to wait until 1838 (Friedrich Bessel)

  11. Prediction: Sun at center of Cosmos Observation: Sun is not at center of universe (1918) The galaxy is not the entire universe (1923) The universe is expanding (1929) Crisis!

  12. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Big Bang Cosmology

  13. Prediction: If denser, hotter, in past, should see evidence of left-over heat from early universe. Observation: Left-over heat from the early universe.

  14. Prediction: A dense, hot expanding universe, should be predominantly hydrogen, helium. Observation: universe is ~75% hydrogen, ~25% helium by mass The Sun: 74.5% H, 24% He by mass Cecelia Payne 1900-1979

  15. Prediction: An expanding universe is evolving over time. If we look at the early universe, it should appear different. Observation: Distant galaxies less evolved, physically and chemically.

  16. Observation: 90% of matter is an unknown form: Dark Matter. Refine: A new and unknown form of matter exists. But its gravity works the same way, and its presence is needed to explain how the universe looks.

  17. Observation: Expansion is accelerating. Refine: Extra energy content (dark energy). A recent discovery and of unknown origin,the concept of dark energy is actually an integral part of Einstein’s theory of gravity.

  18. Big Bang model is our current paradigm or “world view” of the universe. Conclusions • Anomalies, such as dark matter and accelerating • expansion (dark energy), lead us to refine our model, • but there is no crisis (yet). • Science is an ongoing process - forcing us to test • our model through prediction and observation. • The more tests it passes, the greater is our confidence in it.

More Related