How telescopes changed our understanding of the Universe - A NASA presentation

1. 1
How Telescopes Changed our
Understanding of the Universe
STScI and NASA

2. 2
Before Telescopes
We only had our eyes . . .
and a variety of measuring instruments.

3. 3
Is Earth the
center of
the universe?
How far are
the stars?
What are they
made of?
Is there more
than one
galaxy?
Did the
universe
have a
beginning?
Are there
other planets
outside of
our solar
system?
Is the
Solar System
at the
center of
the Galaxy?
And we had many questions…

4. 4
Is Earth the
center of
the universe?
Copernicus said “Sun”
Aristotle said “Earth”
Big Question 1: Is Earth or Sun at the center?

5. 5
Galileo observes Venus
Earth-
centered
System
Sun-
centered
System
What
Galileo
observed
Used with Permission. Copyright Penn State University.
Venus
phases
revealed!
(Play Optional Movies)

6. 6
Big Question 2: How far away are the stars?
How far
away
are the
stars?
M34 image courtesy of Glenn Spielgelman

7. 7
Parallax if stars were ~5000 times closer
Courtesy of David Nash, www.astronexus.com

8. 8
Parallax if stars were ~5000 times closer
Courtesy of David Nash, www.astronexus.com

9. 9
Your eyes marking Earth’s Orbit

10. 10
Background of stars
Courtesy of David Nash, www.astronexus.com

11. 11
Distance to the stars revealed!
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Königsberg Observatory
1838
NOW
6 Months Later

12. 12
Big Question 3:
What are the stars made of?
What
are the
stars
made of?

13. 13
Konigsburg Heliometer
Fraunhofer
1814
Studying the Rainbow
Simulated Spectrum of the Sun
Sun
Courtesy of Dr. John Beck

14. 14
What is the Sun made of?
Kirchhoff Bunsen
OF THE
SUN
1859

15. 15
Confirmed: The Sun is a Star!
=
The stars are other Suns!
1863

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Big Question 4:
Where is the Sun in our Galaxy?
Is the
Solar System
at the
center of
the Galaxy?
?
Galaxy image credit: Hugo, Gaul, Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF (modified)

17. 17
Shapley observes dense star clusters . . .
Globular Cluster
M13
Courtesy of Glenn Spiegelman
Mount Wilson 60-inch
Reflector Telescope
(completed in 1914)
Courtesy of Gale Gant
Harlow
Shapley
Henrietta
Leavitt

18. 18
Location of the Sun in the Galaxy?
Galaxy image credit: Hugo, Gaul, Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF - Globular cluster locations simulated
If the Sun and planets were at the center, globular
clusters would be evenly distributed around us.
What did Shapley discover?

19. 19
Location of the Sun in the Galaxy
established!
Globular clusters are distributed to one side of us.
The Solar System is nearer the edge of the Galaxy!
1918
Galaxy image credit: Hugo, Gaul, Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF - Globular cluster locations simulated

20. 20
Big Question 5: One Galaxy or Many?
M31 - Andromeda courtesy of G. Spielgelman
NGC 1232 courtesy of M. Harms
M51 courtesy of M. Harms
Is there more
than one
galaxy?

21. 21
Distance to “nebulae” determined!
Edwin Hubble
Mt Wilson 100-inch
One of Hubble’s photographs of the
Andromeda “Nebula” with Cepheid
variable marked
1924

22. 22
Revealing a universe full of galaxies
Credit: Robert Williams and the Hubble Deep Field Team (STScI) and NASA

23. 23
Big Question 6:
Did the universe have a beginning?
Did the
universe
have a
beginning?
Edwin Hubble’s data showed that the
more distant galaxies are moving
away faster than the closer galaxies.
Image Credit: STScI

24. 24
Evidence of Big Bang detected!
1965
Image courtesy of WMAP: map.gsfc.nasa.gov

25. 25
Age of the Universe
calculated!
WMAP
Hubble

26. 26
Herschel’s telescope --
used to discover
Uranus in 1781
William Herschel
In our own solar system, telescopes found planets
our eyes could not see.
Are there
other planets
outside of
our solar
system?
Big Question 7: Are there other planets?

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Courtesy of W.M. Keck Observatory
Geoff Marcy
Other worlds discovered!
Artist’s concept of extrasolar planet
Artist: Lynette Cook
1990’s through Today

28. 28
Telescopes have changed our
understanding of the universe …

29. 29
Is Earth the
center of
the universe?
How far are
the stars?
What are they
made of?
Is there more
than one
galaxy?
Did the
Universe
have a
beginning?
Are there
other planets
outside of
our solar
system?
Is the Sun
at the
center of
the Galaxy?
answering some of the big questions…

30. 30
The Sun is at
the center
of the
Solar System
The stars are
other Suns,
VERY
far away.
There are
billions of
other
galaxies!
The known
universe
began
13.7 billion
years ago
There are
many other
planets
outside
our solar
system
Solar System
is about
halfway out
from the
center of
our Galaxy.
answering some of the big questions…

31. 31
… changing our understanding of our
place in the universe!
From the center of the universe…
… to a very small planet in an
immense expanding universe

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And the more we learn, the more
questions emerge!
What is
beyond Pluto
in our
Solar System?
How do
stars and
planets form?
How did
galaxies
form?
Why is
space
expanding?
Do other
planets
harbor life ?
Why are there
black holes
in the center
of galaxies?

33. 33
Chandra Illustration: CXC/NGST
Spitzer Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
GLAST Credit: General Dynamics C4 Systems
Arecibo Image Courtesy of the NAIC
Telescopes will continue to expand our
understanding of our universe.
Keck Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Caltech