Space and the world beyond December Edition
Topics:
Size Stars Planets Galaxies Published by, Ahmed Hassan, Monica Iskarous, Ayam Ibrahim and Mohamed Safaan
PLANETS For a long time, astronomers have followed points of light that seemed to move among the stars with such eager to explore space. The invention of the telescope has allowed the discovery of the asteroid belt, Uranus and Neptune, Pluto and many of these worlds' moons and many probes were launched to explore our solar system with continuous updates. The structure of planets relay mostly on how the solar system mechanics work/rotates with the sun as the center. The four planets that are next to it are rocky territories which are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. After that sequence, there are four planets that are mainly composed out of gas, which are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The asteroid belt which includes the tiny planet of Ceres in relation to the other planets lies between the orbit of Mars, and Jupiter.
Written by: Ayman Ibrahim
Galaxies Galaxy formation and evolution the formation of galaxies is still one of the most active research areas in astrophysics; and, to some extent, this is also true for galaxy evolution. Some ideas, however, are now widely accepted. After the Big Bang, the universe had a period when it was remarkably homogeneous, as can be observed in the Cosmic Microwave Background, the fluctuations of which are less than one part in one hundred thousand. The most accepted view today is that all the structure we observe today was formed as a consequence of the growth of primordial fluctuations. The primordial fluctuations caused gas to be attracted to areas of denser material, and star clusters and stars. One consequence of this model is that the location of galaxies indicates areas of higher density of the early universe. Hence the distribution of galaxies is closely related to the physics of the early universe.
Written By: Mohamed Safaan
Stars How do stars work? We may spend hours looking up at the stars in the sky as those shinny little spots. However , these shinny little dots are massive objects in the outer space. Stars are formed of nebulae which are molecular clouds that collide with each other to form stars. These stars spend their life time using their energy to maintain high temperature to perpetuate hydrogen fusion to helium. At this stage stars are called dwarfs, brown dwarfs are of low energy while the white ones are of high energy. Life time of a star depends on its hydrogen consumption. Stars with massive masses, have high luminosity and short life time while stars with smaller masses have longer life time and are less shinny.
Written By: Monica Iskarous
Size Most people think they know about the size of the universe and the planets. This is not the case for the majority of people. Space is a vast world that extends as far as the eye can see. If you have ever heard about what a light year is, then you would know that it is a measure of distance and not time. All planets are away from us by a light year, which explains why it is hard to see some of the planets that are in our solar system without a telescope. Telescopes are used to see far away planets and galaxies. The telescope shows us the past of these galaxies and planets, because by the time the light reaches us from those planets, it would have been a year or more, so we are actually looking in the past of these planets. The Milky Way (our galaxy) is huge; it is between 100,000 and 120,000 light years in diameter. This is because the galaxy has lots of stars and the solar systems. There are hundreds of billions of other galaxies in our universe. The closest galaxy to us is the “Sagttarius Dwarf Elliptical� and it is only 80,000 light years away. The average size of a galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter and 3000 light years in thickness. Most galaxies around us are actually smaller than our own.
Written by: Ahmed Hassan
Facts that might surprise you!
1. Several stars can be born at once with the collision of two galaxies. 2. The sun is the closest star to our earth. 3. Most stars come in multiple as they spend their life time in pairs. 4. Stars take a whole year to return to their original position. 5. Planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are very interesting planets as they are made up mostly of iron and rock, known to be earthlike in their nature as of similarity in terms of composition. 6. The Asteroid belt consists of minor planets, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in which it’s estimated to have more than 750,000 asteroids in the belt with diameters larger than three-fifths of a Kilometer. A number have orbits that take them closer into the solar system that sometimes lead them to collide with Earth or the other inner planets. 7. The outer planets are worlds with thick outer layers of gas, were all their mass is made up of hydrogen and helium, giving them composition as same as like that of the sun. Beneath these outer layers, they have no solid surfaces their thick atmospheres are at very high pressure that liquefy their insides even if they might have rocky cores. 8. A galaxy is held together by the gravitational attraction between its constituent parts, while its rotational motion prevents it from collapsing on itself 9. Spiral galaxies contain a larger number of bluer, younger stars, while elliptical galaxies contain a larger number of redder, older stars. 10. Jupiter has more mass than all the planets in the solar system combined. 11. Venus is the brightest planet in our solar system and can be seen sometimes by the naked eye. 12. Mars has the largest volcano in solar system, called “Olympus Mons�. The volcano stands 27 Kilometers high. 13. There is no picture of the milky way because we are in the milky way, to take a picture you have to be outside the milky way, which is not possible for the human kind yet.
Games For all Ages! Connect the dots to make a crazy shape.
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