The scale of the universe, structure, objects

There were times when the world of people was limited to the surface of the Earth, which is under their feet. As technology evolved, humanity expanded its horizons. Now people are thinking about whether there are borders to our world and what are the scale of the universe? In fact, its real size can not be imagined by any person. Because we do not have suitable landmarks. Even professional astronomers paint themselves (at least in the imagination) reduced in many times the model. Principal is the exact correlation of the dimensions that the objects of the universe have. And when solving mathematical problems they are generally unimportant, because they turn out to be simply numbers, which the astronomer operates with.

About the structure of the solar system

To talk about the scale of the universe, you must first understand what is closest to us. First, it is a star called the Sun. Secondly, the planets revolving around it. Besides them, there are also satellites moving around some cosmic objects. And do not forget about the asteroid belt.

The planets in this list are of interest to people for a long time, since they are the most accessible for observation. From their study began to develop the science of the structure of the universe - astronomy. The center of the solar system is recognized as a star. It is also its largest object. If you compare with the Earth, the Sun by volume is more than a million times. It only seems relatively small, because it is far removed from our planet.

All the planets of the solar system are divided into three groups:

• Earthly. It includes planets that are similar to Earth by external signs. For example, it is Mercury, Venus and Mars.
• Objects are giants. They are much larger than the first group. In addition, they contain a lot of gases, so they are also called gas. This includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
• Planet-dwarfs. They, in fact, are large asteroids. One of them until recently was included in the main planets - this is Pluto.

The planets "do not scatter" from the Sun due to the force of attraction. And they can not fall on a star because of high speeds. The objects are really very "smart". For example, the speed of the Earth is approximately 30 kilometers per second.

How to compare the size of objects in the solar system?

Before you try to imagine the scale of the universe, it is necessary to deal with the Sun and the planets. After all, they too can be difficult to correlate with each other. Most often, the conventional size of a fiery star is identified with a billiard ball, whose diameter is 7 cm. It should be noted that in reality it reaches about 1,400 thousand km. In such a "toy" model, the first planet from the Sun (Mercury) is at a distance of 2 meters 80 centimeters. In this case the ball of the Earth will have in diameter only half a millimeter. It is located from the star at a distance of 7.6 meters. The distance to Jupiter at this scale will be 40 m, and to Pluto - 300 m.

If we talk about objects that are outside the solar system, then the closest star is Proxima Centauri. It will be removed so much that this simplification turns out to be too small. And this despite the fact that it is within the Galaxy. What to say about the scale of the universe. As you can see, it is virtually unlimited. I always want to know how the Earth and the Universe relate. And after receiving the answer, I can not believe that our planet and even the Galaxy is an insignificant part of the vast world.

What units are used to measure distances in space?

Centimeter, meter and even kilometer - all these quantities are insignificant already within the solar system. What to say about the universe. To indicate the distance within the Galaxy, a value called the light year is used. This is the time that will be required by the light moving for one year. Recall that one light second is equal to almost 300 thousand km. Therefore, when translating into the usual kilometers, the light year is approximately equal to 10,000 billion. It is impossible to imagine it, therefore the scale of the Universe is unimaginable for a person. If you need to specify the distance between neighboring galaxies, then the light year is insufficient. We need an even larger quantity. It was parsec, which is 3.26 light years.

How is the Galaxy?

It is a gigantic formation, consisting of stars and nebulae. A small part of them can be seen every night in the sky. The structure of our Galaxy is very complicated. It can be considered a strongly compressed ellipsoid of revolution. And he has an equatorial part and a center. The equator of the Galaxy mostly consists of gas nebulae and hot massive stars. In the Milky Way this part is in its central region.

The solar system is no exception to the rules. It is also located near the equator of the Galaxy. By the way, most of the stars form a huge disk, whose diameter is 100 thousand light years, and the thickness - 1500. If we return to the scale that was used to represent the solar system, then the dimensions of the Galaxy will be commensurate with the distance from the Earth to the Sun. This is an incredible figure. Therefore, the Sun and the Earth turn out to be crumbs in the Galaxy.

What objects exist in the universe?

We list the most basic:

• Stars are massive self-luminous spheres. They arise from a medium consisting of a mixture of dust and gases. Most of them are hydrogen and helium.
• Relic radiation. They are electromagnetic pulses that propagate in space. Its temperature is 270 degrees Celsius. And this radiation is the same in all directions. This property is called isotropy. In addition, some mysteries of the universe are connected with it. For example, it became clear that it arose at the time of the big bang. That is, there is from the very beginning of the existence of the universe. It also confirms the idea that it expands equally in all directions. And this statement is true not only for the present tense. So it was at the very beginning.
• Dark matter. That is, the hidden mass. These are those objects of the universe that can not be investigated by direct observation. In other words, they do not emit electromagnetic waves. But they have a gravitational effect on other bodies.
• Black holes. They are not well understood, but are very well known. This was due to a mass description of such objects in fantasy works. In fact, a black hole is a body from which electromagnetic radiation can not spread because the second cosmic velocity on it is equal to the speed of light. It is worth remembering that it is the second space velocity that must be communicated to the object so that it leaves the space object.

In the universe, in addition, there are also quasars and pulsars.

The Mysterious Universe

It is full of what is not yet fully discovered, not studied. Yes, and what was found, often throws up new questions and related mysteries of the universe. To them it is possible to carry even all the known theory of the "Big Bang". It is really only a conditional doctrine, because mankind can only guess how it happened.

The second riddle is the age of the universe. It can be calculated approximately by the already mentioned relic radiation, observation of globular clusters and other objects. Today, scientists agreed that the age of the universe is approximately equal to 13.7 billion years. Another mystery - if life on other planets? After all, not only in the solar system there were suitable conditions, and the Earth appeared. And the Universe, most likely, is filled with similar formations.

One?

And what is outside the universe? What is there, where did not penetrate the human eye? Is there something behind this frontier? If so, how many universes exist? These are questions that scientists have yet to find answers to. Our world is like a box with surprises. Once it seemed that it consists only of the Earth and the Sun, with a small number of stars in the sky. Then the worldview expanded. Accordingly, and the borders are parted. Not surprisingly, many bright minds have long come to the conclusion that the universe is only part of an even larger education.