SCIENCECOURSE2012: THE UNIVERSE

WELCOME TO UNIT NO. 1

Through this work I will give you a view of our amazing universe. We will learn how the universe was perfectly formed and we will recognize all the components on it. It will help us to appreciate our beautiful planet and to motivate us to take care of it as an unappreciated gift from God.

Unit No. 1

The Universe:

1. The celestial bodies in the universe are very diverse. Here we have a list of celestial bodies from our universe:

1. Planets: Like the Earth, which is the planet we live on.

2. Satellites: Like the Moon, which is the Earth’s natural satellite.

3. Comets: Which orbit the Sun on a very long trajectory.

4. Asteroids: Rocky bodies which are smaller than planets, very often irregular in shape, and which orbit around the Sun.

5. Stars: Like the Sun which continuously radiate energy into the space around them.

6. Galaxies: Groups of tens or hundreds of thousands of stars. The Universe contains approximately 100,000 galaxies.

7. Cluster of Galaxies: Made up of many different galaxies.

The Solar System:

We have already seen that there are different types of celestial bodies in the Solar System.

The Sun is the central body. It is a Star. The planets, their satellites, comets and asteroids revolve around the Sun.

The planets revolve around the Sun in practically circular orbits. The planets which are farthest away revolve more slowly and take longer to complete a full revolution.

The comets and the asteroids are smaller bodies. Comets show their spectacular tails when they come close to the Sun. Many asteroids are concentrated in a region located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt.