The Big Bang Theory
PLANET
Large body in space that orbits a star and does not produce light of its own
NEBULA
Large cloud of dust and gas in space
SPECTRA
Lines of light that act as elemental fingerprints in light sources in space
HYDROGEN
Main element formed in the Big Bang formed from colliding protons and neutrons 3 minutes after the Big Bang cooled. This makes up 75% of matter in the Universe.
UNIVERSE
All observable items, including galaxy clusters, galaxies, stars and planets
HELIUM
After Hydrogen was made in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, this was the second element to be made that makes up 25% of the matter in the universe today.
Hot and Cold Spots
Attract to one another gravitationally to form planets, stars and galaxies
STAR
Celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
EVIDENCE
Collected body of data from observations and experiments (What was just here?)
SOLAR SYSTEM
Collection of planets and their moons in orbit around a sun, together with smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids and comets
PENZIAS AND WILSON
Discovered CMB with a horn antenna in 1963 trying to pick up microwaves from the Milky Way galaxy.
SUPER CLUSTER
Group of several clusters of galaxies formed into one massive cluster.
GALAXY
Huge group of single stars, star systems, star clusters, dust and gas bound together by gravity
CALCULATING REDSHIFT
Observed Wavelength / Emitted Wavelength - 1
HYPOTHESIS
Possible explanation for a set of observations or answer to a scientific question; must be testable
COSMIC RADIATION
Radiation that comes from sun and beyond solar system.
BLUE SHIFT
Shift toward shorter wavelengths of spectral lines emmited by a celestial object that is caused by object moving toward earth
HUBBLE CONSTANT
The amount of recessional velocity of a galaxy is expected to increase as its distance increases.
HUBBLE'S LAW
The observation that most galaxies appear to be moving away from our galaxy and that the speed at which the galaxies appear to be moving away is related to how far away they are from our galaxy.
ELEMENT PRODUCTION AS EVIDENCE OF THE BIG BANG
The ratio of Hydrogen and Helium that is present (75% and 25%) proves that the Universe is expanding from a single point in time. If the Universe were expanding slower there would be less Helium and more isotopes of Hydrogen. If it were faster there would be more Helium and more neutrons present.
BIG BANG THEORY
Theory the universe began as a small extremely dense object that expanded rapidly about 13.7 billion years ago
COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION
Weak radiation that is left over from early, hot stages of expansion of universe in the form of microwaves.
WMAP
Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe: satellite that produced a map of microwave background radiation from big bang. Mainly shows density of different areas of universe at its birth.
SUPERNOVA NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
the creation of elements heavier than iron through the fusion of nuclei of atoms in a supernova when a star runs out of fuel and collapses on itself and releases all it's nuclei of atoms Iron or less and a ton or neutrons.
STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
the creation of elements lithium through iron by the fusion of nuclei of atoms in stars.
CEPHEID VARIABLE
A star that expands and contracts in a regular repeating cycle. Because of this they are often used to measure distances in space.
MEGAPARSEC
A unit of distance used in measuring the distance between galaxies. Is equal to 3.26 million light years.
What does Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation tell us?
Hot and Cold Spots and the Composition of the Universe which is mostly Dark energy 68%, Dark Matter 27% and only 5% matter such as stars, planets and galaxies
DARK MATTER
Hypothetical form of matter that is believed to make up 90 % of the matter in universe
REDSHIFTING
Most galaxies are redshifting, proving the Universe is Expanding.
DARK ENERGY
Mysterious force that appears to be causing expansion of the universe to accelerate
How does Redshift and Hubble's Law provide evidence of the Big Bang?
Redshift indicates that an object is moving away from an observer. The observed redshift vs. distance relationship (the greater the distance from earth the greater the red shift) showing that the universe is expanding from a single point.
RED SHIFT
Shift toward longer wavelengths of spectral lines emitted by a celestial object caused by object moving away from earth, important piece of evidence for Big Bang Theory
How does Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation provide Evidence that supports the Big Bang?
The Big Bang Theory starts with an extremely hot dense object with an extremely small volume that "explodes" and would have radiation that is detectable today in the form of microwaves.
