THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

1. STEADY STATE THEORY

 Proposed in 1948 by Bondi, Gould , Hoyle. They proposed that the universe is unchanging in time and uniform in space.
 It maintains that new matter is created as the universe expands thereby maintaining its density.
 As matter moves apart, new matter is created to fill the gaps.
 Its predictions led to tests and its eventual rejection with the discovery of the cosmic microwave background.
 Opposes the Big Bang Theory
 Steady State Theory states that the universe has always been essentially the same as it is today and that it will continue
that way forever.
2. OSCILLATING UNIVERSE MODEL
 George Gamow (1940’s) predicted there should be “echoes” of the Big Bang “explosion.” He said that the expansion of
the universe will eventually come to a halt then collapses up to the time that the universe will return to its original form and
another Big Bang will occur. This will happen as a cycle.
3. BIG BANG THEORY
 The proponents of the theory were Alexander Friedman and George Lamaitre in 1920.
 As the currently accepted theory of the origin and evolution of the universe, the Big Bang Theory postulates that 13.8
billion years ago, the universe expanded from a tiny, dense and hot mass to its present size and much cooler state.
 In the first second after the explosion, gravity and electro-magnetism were ‘created’.
 In the first minute the universe had grown to 1million billion miles (1,000,000,000,000) across
 In the first 3 minutes, the heat (10 billion degrees celsius) causes nuclear reaction with lightest particles to make 98% of
all matter in the universe.

COMPOSITION OF THE UNIVERSE

Baryonic matter-(visible universe)- An ordinary matter composed of atoms. Protons, electrons and neutrons. 4.6%
Cold Dark matter- A matter that has gravity but does not emit light. 24%
Dark energy- Source of anti-gravity. 71.4%
Diameter of the universe – 91 billion light years
Age- 13.8 billion years old
Density- 4.5 x 10-31 g/cm3

OVERVIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

 The solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy,a huge disc- and spiral-shaped aggregation of about at least 100
billion stars and other bodies;
 Its spiral arms rotate around a globular cluster or bulge of many, many stars, at the center of which lies a supermassive
blackhole;
 This galaxy is about 100 million light years across (1 light year = 9.4607 × 1012 km;
 The solar system revolves around the galactic center once in about 240 million years
 The Milky Way is part of the so-called Local Group of galaxies, which in turn is part of the Virgo supercluster of galaxies;
 Based on the assumption that they are remnants of the materials from which they were formed, radioactive dating of
meteorites, suggests that the Earth and solar system are 4.6 billion years old. On the assumption that they are remnants
of the materials from which they were formed.

Large Scale Features of the Solar System

1. Much of the mass of the Solar System is concentrated at the center (Sun) while angular momentum is held by the outer
planets.
2. Orbits of the planets elliptical and are on the same plane.
3. All planets revolve around the sun.
4. The periods of revolution of the planets increase with increasing distance from the Sun; the innermost planet moves fastest, the
outermost, the slowest;
5. All planets are located at regular intervals from the Sun.

Small scale features of the Solar System

1.Most planets rotate prograde
2. Inner terrestrial planets are made of materials with high melting points such as silicates, iron , and nickel. They rotate slower,
have thin or no atmosphere, higher densities, and lower contents of volatiles - hydrogen, helium, and noble gases.
3. The outer four planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called "gas giants" because of the dominance of gases and
their larger size. They rotate faster, have thick atmosphere, lower densities, and fluid interiors rich in hydrogen, helium and ices
(water, ammonia, methane).
PLANETARY ORBITS
All planets in almost circular (elliptical) orbits around the Sun, in approximately the same plane (ecliptic).
Sense of revolution: counter-clockwise
Sense of rotation: counter-clockwise (with exception of Venus, and Uranus)

THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

1. Descartes’ Vortex Theory - Rene Descartes ( 1596-1650)
The solar system was formed into bodies with nearly circular orbits because of the whirlpool-like motion in the pre-solar
materials.
Orbits of the planets as explained by whirlpool-like motion of pre-solar material.
2. Buffon’s Collision Theory - George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon ( 1707-1788)
Planets were formed from debris after the sun’s collision with a giant comet.
3. Jeans-Jeffrey’s Tidal Theory - Sir James Hopwood Jeans (1877-1946), Harold Jeffreys ( 1891-1989)
The planets were formed from the substances that was torn out of the sun
Planets are formed from condensed materials from the sun.
4. Kant–Laplace Nebular Theory - Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Pierre Simon Laplace ( 1749-1827)
NEBULA- a great cloud of gas and dust.
Nebula collapses because of gravitational force and contracts as it spins more rapidly.
The spinning cloud flattens with bulges at the center. As the collapse continues, the bulges became the sun and planets.

Recent advancement/information on the Solar

1. System Exploration of Mars
Since the 1960s, the Soviet Union and the U.S. have been sending unmanned probes to the planet Mars with the primary
purpose of testing the planet's habitability. The early efforts in the exploration of Mars involved flybys through which
spectacular photographs of the Martian surface were taken. The first successful landing and operation on the surface of
Mars occurred in 1975 under the Viking program of NASA. Recently, NASA, using high resolution imagery of the surface
of Mars, presented evidence of seasonal flow liquid water (in the form of brine - salty water) on the surface of Mars
2. Rosetta's Comet
Rosetta is a space probe built by the European Space Agency and launched on 2 March 2004. One of its mission is to
rendezvous with and attempt to land a probe (Philae) on a comet in the Kuiper Belt. One of the purpose of the mission is
to better understand comets and the early solar systems. Philae landed successfully on comet (67P/Churyumov–
Gerasimenko) on 12 November 2014. Analysis of the water (ice) from the comet suggest that its isotopic composition is
different from water from Earth.
3. 3. Pluto Flyby
On 14 July 2015, NASA's New Horizon spacecraft provided mankind the first close-up view of the dwarf planet Pluto.
Images captured from the flyby revealed a complex terrain - ice mountains and vast crater free plains. The presence of
crater free plains suggests recent (last 100 millions of years) of geologic activity.

Things to remember:
• Venus, Earth and Mars are part of the inner “rocky” planets.
• Their composition and densities are not too different from each other.
• Venus is considered to be earth's twin planet. it has a very similar size and mass with the Earth. Mars is about half the
Earth's size.
• Orbital period and velocity are related to the planets distance from the sun. Among the three planets, Venus is the nearest
and Mars is the farthest from the Sun.
• Rotational speed of the Earth and Mars are very similar. Rotational speed of Venus is extremely slow.
• Abundance of liquid water on Earth, hence the blue color. The Earth is a habitable planet.

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