PME-112

Introduction to Earth System Science

Origin of the Universe and Earth
• What is Universe?
The universe is believed to be at least 10 billion
light years in diameter and contains a vast
number of galaxies; it has been expanding since
its creation in the Big Bang about 13 billion
years ago.
• What is Earth?
Earth, also called the world , is the third planet
from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar
System, the largest of the Solar System's four
terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical
object known to accommodate life.
 The Big Bang Theory
• Currently the dominant theory
• First iteration proposed by Georges Lemaître in 1927.
He observed the red shift in distant nebulas and
invoked relativity.
• Hubble found experimental evidence (1929) – galaxies
are moving away from us with speeds proportional to
their distance.
• Theory suggested because it explains the expansion &
predicts the existence of cosmic radiation (leftover
photons) & nucleosynthesis
• 1964 cosmic radiation discovered (Arno Penzias &
Robert Wilson who won the Nobel Prize)
 Big Bang – what is it?
• Collapsing cloud of interstellar dust
• Cloud dense and cold so collapses under its own self-
gravity (cold gas has less internal pressure to
counteract gravity)
• Once collapsed, it immediately warms up because of
release of gravitational energy during collapse
• All mass and energy concentrated at a geometric point
 Big Bang
• ~14 or 15 BY ago
• Beginning of space and time
• Expansion/cooling of universe began
• Protons and neutrons form
• Cooling initiated the formation of atoms – first
mostly H (the most abundant form of matter in the
universe) and He (two lightest elements)
 The universe
• H2 and He gas are still the dominant elements in the
universe
– Still about 99% of all material
• Giant gas and dust clouds form
– Clouds begin to break into megaclouds
– Megaclouds organized into spiral and elliptical shapes due
to rotational forces
– Galaxies or nebulae are the gases and dust in the disk
• Some of the gas in these galaxies broke up into
smaller clusters to form stars
– Gravitational collapse of stars produces heat
– Initiates fusion reactions that make other elements
 The Eagle Nebula from the
Hubble telescope

Interstellar clouds
 Early History of the Universe
• Matter as we know it did not exist at the time of
the Big Bang, only pure energy. Within one second,
the 4 (Four) fundamental forces were separated:
1. Gravity: The attraction of one body toward another
2. Electromagnetic Force: Binds atoms into molecules,
can be transmitted by photons
3. Strong nuclear Force: Binds protons and neutrons
together in the nucleus
4. Weak nuclear Force: Breaks down an atom’s nucleus,
producing radioactive decay
Summary: Timeline of the Universe
 Possible Fates of the Universe

“Some say the world will end in fire, others say in ice.” – Robert Frost
 How old is the Universe?
• Extrapolate the current expansion rate (Hubble constant) back
to the Big Bang:
- Speed x time = distance
(distance of a particular galaxy) / (that galaxy’s velocity) = (time)
– or
- 4.6 x 10^26 cm / 1 x 10^9 cm/sec = 4.6 x 10^17 sec
– ~ 15 billion years
– 10 to 20 billion years old
• Look for the oldest stars (in globular clusters)
– 11 to 18 billion years old
• Best current estimate is13.4 ± 1.6 billion years
Solar System Configuration
What’s in the Solar System?
• Sun
• 9 planets
• > 93 moons orbiting planets
• Asteroids
– 6 (>300 km diameter)
– >7000 (<300 km diameter)
• Comets (a few km diameter)
• Meteoroids (<100 meters diameter)
• Dust
 Formation of galaxy and stars
• Galaxy – rotating aggregation of stars, dust, gas and
debris held together by gravity
• Stars are massive spheres of incandescent gases
• 100’s of billions of galaxies in the universe and 100’s of
billions of stars in the galaxies
• Sun is a star
• Sun plus its family of planets is our solar system
• Our solar system formed about 5 BY ago
 Formation of the Sun
• Clouds in interstellar space are many 1000’s of times
the mass of the sun
• Clouds contract, producing smaller fragments
• Form 1 or more star – depending how fast the cloud
fragment is rotating (faster yields more stars)
 Alternate theory to beginning of Universe
The Big-Bang Theory says that the
entire universe came to be in a huge
explosion about 15 billion years ago.
Nobody ever believed this idea until
Edwin Hubble discovered the redshift
of galaxy light in the 1920s, which
seemed to suggest a bigger universe.
However, our ability to test this
theory and others have gotten better
with modern telescopes covering all
wavelengths, some of them in orbit.
Although many people believe this
theory there is no physical proof that
it actually happened.
 The Big Bang Theory
• The most popular theory for the origin of the Universe is the Big Bang Theory, according to which the Universe
expanded to its present enormous volume from an initial miniscule starting volume. This expansion has taken place
over the past 10 or so billion years. Astronomers believe that at this point in time, the beginning of the Universe and
the beginning of time, all the matter of the Universe was concentrated in an infinitely small volume and was in a state
of infinite density.
• Two observations, both made during the 20th Century have profoundly shaped the way in which we think about our
Universe and have lead to the Big Bang Theory for the origin of the Universe. First was the discovery by Edwin
Hubble that our Universe is expanding. Second was the discovery made in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
that our part of the Universe is filled with microwave radiation. This radiation has become known as the Cosmic
Microwave Background.
• It was during the 1920's that Edwin Hubble provided the first evidence that we live in an expanding Universe. Hubble
discovered that there is a simple relationship between the distance to a remote galaxy and the redshift in the spectral
lines from that galaxy. This redshift is know as the cosmological redshift (Astronomers through Spectroscopy
subdivides light into its constituent colors — violet to red — and identifies from the presence of spectral lines, the
chemical elements which are present in the star). These measurements strongly indicated that galaxies appear to be
moving away from us with speeds proportional to their distance.
• One of the predictions of the Big Bang model for the origin of the Universe is that the initial explosion was extremely
hot and that the remnants of the initial fireball might still be detected at the edges of the Universe. The discovery in the
1960s by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of the Cosmic Microwave Background coincided with the work of some
theoretical physicists who showed that if the Universe began with a hot Big Bang, then the Universe should be filled
with electromagnetic radiation cooled from the early fireball to a temperature of around 10 degrees above absolute
zero (~10°K).
• Alternative Big Bang models are concerned with the curvature of space. Over the past 20 years there have been three
competing models arguing that space may be flat, positively curved, like a ball or negatively curved, like a saddle. The
results of these recent studies have allowed an in-depth study of competing Big Bang hypotheses, and provide
confirmation that the Universe is 'flat', i.e. finely balanced between expanding forever or collapsing back into a 'big
crunch'.
 Evidence for the Big Bang

1. Background hiss of microwave radiation

2. Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant

element in the universe followed by He

3. Red Shift: the universe is expanding

4. Stars and supernovae repeat patterns

 Origin of Our Solar System
Solar Nebular Hypothesis / Theory
The orderly nature of our Solar System led most astronomers to conclude that its
members formed at essentially the same time and from the same primordial
material. This proposal is known as the Nebular Hypothesis (1796: P. S. de
Laplace), suggests that the bodies of our solar system formed from an enormous
cloud composed mostly of hydrogen and helium with only a small percentage of the
heavier elements.
Processes involved:
1. A huge rotating cloud of gases and dust (Nebula) begins to contract.
2. Large eddies of gas and dust remain far from the Protosun. Most materials is
gravitationally swept towards the centre, producing the SUN. However, due to
rotational motion some dust & gases remain orbiting the central body as a
flatten disk.
3. The proto-planets (Planets in the making stage) begin to accrete from the
material that is orbiting within the flatten disk.
4. In time most of the remaining debris was either collected into the nine planets
and their moons or swept out into space by the Solar wind.
5. The removal of debris allowed sunlight to heat the surfaces of the newly formed
planets.
The Nebular Theory* of Solar System Formation
*Itis also called the
Interstellar Cloud (Nebula)
‘Protoplanet Theory’.

Gravitational Collapse

Protosun Protoplanetary Disk

Heating ⇒ Fusion Condensation (gas to solid)

Sun Metal, Rocks Gases, Ice

Accretion Nebular
Capture

Leftover Materials Terrestrial Jovian Leftover Materials

Asteroids Planets Planets Comets

 Solar System Facts
1. Each planet is relatively isolated in space.
2. Orbits of planets are nearly circular.
3. Orbits of planets all lie in nearly the same plane.
4. The direction in which planets orbit the Sun is the same direction in
which the Sun rotates on its axis.
5. The direction in which most planets rotate on their own axis is roughly
the same as the direction the Sun rotates on its axis. (exceptions: Venus,
Uranus, Pluto)
6. Most of the known moons orbit their parent planet in the same direction
that the planets rotate on their axes.
7. Our planetary system is highly differentiated.
8. Asteroids are very old and exhibit a range of properties not
characteristic of inner or outer planets or their moons.
9. Comets are primitive, icy fragments that do not orbit in the ecliptic
plane and reside primarily at large distances from Sun.
 Exceptions to the Rules
• Most planets rotate in the same direction that they orbit.
– Uranus and Pluto rotate nearly on their sides.
– Venus is upside-down and rotates “backward”.
• Most large moons orbit their planet in the same
direction that their planets rotate.
– Triton (Neptune’s large moon) goes opposite
direction.
• Terrestrial planets have no moons (Mercury, Venus) or
very small moons (Mars).
– Earth’s Moon is one of the largest in solar system.
 Terrestrial Planets: Summary
• Small size
• Low mass
• High density
• Mostly rock and metal composition
• Solid surface
• Atmospheres: from near vacuum to dense hot gas
• Rotation rate: Earth, Mars ~ 24 hrs, Mercury ~ 2
months, Venus ~ 8 months
• Few moons: Earth – 1, Mars – 2, Mercury and
Venus – 0.
• No rings
• Close to Sun (within 1.5 AU) and closely spaced
with warmer surfaces.
 Jovian Planets: Summary
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• Large size
• High mass
• Lower density
• Gaseous composition: mainly hydrogen, helium, & H-
compounds
• No solid surfaces - atmosphere thickens and merges with liquid
interior over small rock/metal core
• Atmospheres - dense, varying composition
• Rotation rates: Rapid compared to terrestrial, (0.38 to 0.72) *
rotation rate of Earth
• Large ring systems
• Moons: numerous and varied in composition
• Farther from Sun and widely spaced with cool temperatures at
the cloud tops.
 Origin of Comets and Asteroids
Asteroids
• Rocky leftover planetesimals of the inner solar
system.
• Most of the asteroids are concentrated in the asteroid
belt between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter.
• Jupiter’s strong gravity might have disturbed the
formation of a terrestrial planet here.
• Jupiter also affects the orbit of these asteroids and sent
them flying out of the solar system, or sent them into
a collision cause with other planets.
Comets
• Icy leftover planetesimals of the outer solar system.
• Comets in between Jupiter and Neptune were ‘bullied’
away from this region, either collide with the big
planets, or been sent out to the Kuiper belt or the Oort
cloud.
• Comets beyond the orbit of Neptune have time to
grow larger, and stay in stable orbit. Pluto may be (the
biggest) one of them.
 Origin of Earth
 There are number of hypotheses (Rotating Gas Cloud, Ionize
Clouds, Collapsing of Gas Cloud, Random Capture Model etc.)
for the origin of the earth. The most widely discussed one is
Nebular Hypothesis, Which says-
A huge rotating cloud of dust & gases (Nebula) begins to
contract
Most of the material is gravitationally swept toward the
center, producing Sun.
Due to rotational motion some dust & gases remain
orbiting the central body as flattened disk, which later
accreted to form planets & moons or swept away in the
space.
 Where did the moons come from?
Giant Impact
• Our moon may have been formed in a giant impact between the Earth and
a large planetesimal…
Captured Moons
• Phobos & Deimos of Mars may be captured asteroids.
• Triton orbits in a direction opposite to Neptune’s rotation
• Comet Shoemaker was captured by Jupiter, then crashed

Capture of Comet Shoemaker by Jupiter

 A Star is Born!
• Stars are powered by • When all the hydrogen
fusion reactions. in a star is used up,
• Origin of our solar large stars will collapse
system. in on themselves
• These fusion reactions (implode).
start out making
elements like He and Li.
 Supernovae
• An exploding star! • When the star runs
• When all the out of any smaller
hydrogen is gone and elements to fuse it,
the star is imploding explodes out and all
there is enough heat the rest of the
and pressure for elements after iron
heavier elements (up (Fe) are formed.
to iron) to form.
 Gravity!
• Gravity pulls atoms • “We are all stardust”
back together – All the atoms that
forming new stars make us and
and sometimes everything else we
planets like ours. have around us were
made in ancient stars
• These new objects that exploded as
have a mix of all supernovae.
sorts of elements.