The astronomical address of the earth in the universe. Earth and its place in the universe. Photo of the Milky Way galaxy

For centuries, thousands of people have been looking for an answer to the fundamental question: what is at the center of the universe?

The inhabitants of Greece in the 3rd century BC looked to the night sky for an answer.

Since we are looking at the sky from the ground, then we are in the center.

According to Aristotle's theory, it was believed that the world consists of 4 elements: earth, water, fire and air. These elements are inside a solid sphere and move it. We observe each of these spheres in the form of a star. And the universe with all its stars is located on the extreme sphere. This theory really well explains the movement of the starry sky. This view of the universe has existed for several centuries.

In 1543 Copernicus proposed a new model. In his opinion, the sun is at the center of the universe. At first, few people listened to such a radical point of view. However, new scientific discoveries and observations from that time began to confirm the Copernican model:

1. Johannes Kepler proved that orbits do not have a perfect circle shape.

2. Galileo noticed that Jupiter's moons revolve exclusively around Jupiter.

3. Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation, according to which all things are attracted to each other.

In the end, it was recognized that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

In 1580, the Italian philosopher and thinker Giordano Bruno hypothesized that any star could be the Sun with its planets. And the universe is actually infinite. The Renaissance society took his teachings very sharply. Bruno later paid for his convictions with his life.

Several centuries passed and Rene Deckard put forward a new teaching, according to which the universe consists of formations, each of which is a mixture of whirlpools and vortices, with stars in the center.

As telescopes improved, astronomers became increasingly convinced that the sun was just one of countless stars in the Milky Way. And the rest of the patterns in the night sky are other galaxies, as huge as ours. Milky Way... Perhaps we are very far from the center, contrary to our expectations.

In the 20th century, astronomers conducted scientific research. They tracked nebulae to understand their movement. According to the Doppler effect, a blue spectrum will be seen for objects moving in our direction, and a red spectrum from us. During the observation, only red color appeared. Objects were moving at great speed in opposite directions.

This study confirms the Big Bang Theory. According to the theory, all matter in the universe was originally compressed into a point with infinite density. It was not just an explosion in space, it was an explosion of space itself, as a result of which an endless expansion of matter took place. It turns out that the Universe cannot have a center, since it is infinite.

Progress does not stand still. What is true today may become a delusion tomorrow. New discoveries have already been able to turn the picture of the universe known for centuries. And, as it turned out, even the most insane assumptions can turn out to be true theories that bring us closer to revealing the truth.

We live on a planet Earth... It is part of Solar System, which includes the central star - the Sun, and all natural space objects revolving around it. The mass of the Sun is 333 thousand times greater than that of the Earth (the mass of the Earth is 5.97219 × 10 24 kg). The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is about 149.6 million km (1 AU is an astronomical unit). Earth is the third planet from the Sun.

The mass of the Solar System is 1.0014 solar masses. The solar system revolves around the center of the Galaxy at a speed of 220 km / s at a distance of 27000 ± 1000 sv. years from him. It makes a full revolution in 225-250 million years.

The closest stars to our planetary system are Proxima (4.22 light years), Alpha Centauri A and B (4.37 light years). The nearest planetary system is Alpha Centauri (4.37 light years).

The solar system is located in a spiral galaxy with a bar (bar) - Milky way... The main disk of the Milky Way has about 100-120 thousand sv. years in diameter and about 250-300 thousand sv. years around the perimeter. Outside the galactic core, the thickness of the Milky Way is about 1,000 sv. years.

The halo of the Milky Way extends much further than the size of the Galaxy, but is limited by the orbits of two satellite galaxies: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the distance to which is about 180 thousand sv. years.

The mass of the Milky Way is about 5.8 × 10 11 solar masses. It has 200-400 billion stars. Only 0.0001% of all stars in the Galaxy are listed and cataloged. The number of black holes weighing more than thirty times the mass of our Sun is several million.

The center of the Galaxy contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4.3 million solar masses. A smaller black hole (with a mass of 1-10 thousand solar masses) and several thousand relatively small ones revolves around it. The central regions of the Galaxy are characterized by a strong concentration of stars. The distances between the stars are tens and hundreds of times less than in the vicinity of the Sun. The length of the galactic bar is about 27 thousand sv. years. It consists mainly of red stars, which are considered very old.

The spiral structure is very well developed in our Galaxy. Some of the most visible formations are spiral branches (or arms). The youngest stars are mainly concentrated along the arms. It is believed that there are four main spiral arms in the Milky Way that originate in the galactic center. Besides them, there are others. Among them Orion arm in which our solar system is located. Its thickness is approximately 3.5 thousand sv. years, and the length is about 10 thousand sv. years. In the Orion arm, the solar system is near the inner edge.

The Milky Way together with the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and a number of other galaxies form Local group of galaxies... More than 54 galaxies belong to it. The center of mass of the Local Group lies approximately on the line connecting the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The local group has a diameter of 10 million sv. years (3.1 megaparsec). The total mass is 1.29 ± 0.14 × 10 12 solar masses.

The local group can be divided into several subgroups:

- a subgroup of the Milky Way (consists of a giant spiral galaxy, the Milky Way and 14 of its known satellites, which are dwarf and mostly irregular galaxies);

- Andromeda subgroup (consists of the giant spiral Andromeda Galaxy and 33 of its known satellites, which are also mainly dwarf galaxies);

- Triangle subgroup (Triangle Galaxy and its possible satellites);

- a subgroup of the galaxy NGC 3109 (galaxy NGC 3109 together with its neighbors, dwarf galaxies).

The local group of galaxies is part of Virgo Clusters... Its diameter is 15 million sv. years. The Virgo Cluster contains about 2 thousand galaxies. The largest of them: Messier 90 (diameter - 160 thousand light years), Messier 86 (155 thousand light years), Messier 49 (150 thousand light years), Messier 98 (150 thousand light years), NGC 4438 (130 thousand light years).

More than 11 thousand globular star clusters have been identified in the Virgo cluster. Most of them are about 5 billion years old. These clusters have been found in hundreds of galaxies of varying sizes, shapes and brightness, including even dwarf galaxies.

The Virgo Cluster is a powerful cluster of galaxies in the center Virgo supercluster... It includes about 100 groups and clusters of galaxies. The Virgo Supercluster consists of a disk and a halo. The flattened disk is pancake-shaped and contains 60% of the light-emitting galaxies. The halo consists of a series of elongated objects and contains 40% of light-emitting galaxies.

The Virgo supercluster has a diameter of over 200 million sv. years (according to other estimates - 110 million light years). It is one of the millions of superclusters in the observable universe.

The Virgo Supercluster enters superclusterLaniakeya centered near the Great Attractor (gravitational anomaly). Laniakei's diameter is approximately 520 million s. years. It consists of about 100 thousand galaxies, and its mass is about 10 17 solar masses (which is about 100 times the mass of the Virgo supercluster).

Laniakeya consists of four parts: the Virgo supercluster (of which the Milky Way is a part), the Hydra-Centaur supercluster, the Peacock-Indian supercluster, and the Centaur supercluster.

The Laniakei Supercluster enters supercluster complex (galactic thread)Pisces-whale, which has 1.0 billion cw. years in length and 150 million st. years across. It is one of the largest structures identified in the universe. It is 10 times smaller than the Great Wall of Hercules-Northern Crown (the largest structure in the Universe that is observed). Our Virgo supercluster with a mass of 10 15 solar masses is only 0.1% of the total mass of the complex.

The Pisces-Cetus supercluster complex (galactic filament) contains about 60 galaxy clusters and is estimated to have a total mass of 10 18 solar masses (10 times the mass of Laniakei). The complex consists of five parts: the Pisces-Kit supercluster; the Perseus-Pegasus chain (including the Perseus-Pisces supercluster); Pegasus-Pisces chain; the Sculptor site (in particular, the Sculptor supercluster and the Hercules supercluster); Laniakea supercluster (which contains, in particular, the Virgo supercluster, as well as the Hydra-Centauri supercluster).

So, earth address these are: the Solar System, the Orion Galactic Arm, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Group of Galaxies, the Virgo Cluster, the Virgo Supercluster, the Laniakea Supercluster, the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster (galactic filament) complex.

Location of the Earth in the Universe (Credit: Andrew Z. Colvin; Source: Wikipedia)

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Description of the presentation Place of the Earth in the universe. Shown here are approximate scales by slides

The solar system, on it the Earth looks like a small point, because only the distance to the Sun is about 150 million kilometers (and here it looks like a small segment). Already on these scales, the distance begins to be measured in time, for light travels these distances. 1 light second is equal to 300 thousand km.

Nearby stars. The distances between the nearest stars are much larger than the sizes of stellar systems. The most nearby star to ours - Alpha Centauri, to her distance is about 4 light years. That's roughly 120-130 million light seconds, or about 40 trillion kilometers.

Local galactic group. This is a gravitationally bound group of more than 40 galaxies near ours (usually it includes about 50-60 galaxies). Gravitational constraint means that their attraction to each other significantly affects their movement. In space, galaxies do not live alone, but are always located in similar groups. The characteristic distance between galaxies in one group is much larger than the size of one galaxy - millions of light years. The nearest large galaxy, the Andromeda Nebula, is 2 million light years away. In the picture, she is to the right of ours. The closest to us are two dwarf galaxies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which are about 150 thousand light years away, in the figure they are shown very close to ours (bottom right and bottom left).

Local galactic supercluster. Groups of galaxies gather in superclusters from adjacent clusters. More details about supragalactic structures will be in another lecture. Superclusters form galactic filaments - filamentary and flat objects made up of clusters of galaxies.

Nearest superclusters. Galactic filaments form the cellular structure of the universe. The walls of the cells are composed of different superclusters, and the interiors are empty. When zoomed in, the universe resembles a honeycomb.

The observable universe (metagalaxy). The observable universe is much smaller than the entire universe that emerged from the big bang. It is, however, rather difficult to judge the size of the entire universe, and estimates of its size are made using different models of the Big Bang Theory. The area shown in the previous figure looks like a small dot here.

The Big Bang Theory. Why do scientists think the universe began with an explosion? Astronomers cite three very different lines of reasoning that provide a solid foundation for this theory. Let's take a closer look at them.

1. The observed expansion of the universe. Discovery of the phenomenon of expansion of the Universe. Perhaps the most compelling evidence for the Big Bang theory comes from a remarkable discovery made by American astronomer Edwin Hubble in 1929. Before that, most scientists considered the Universe to be static - motionless and unchanging. But Hubble found that it was expanding: groups of galaxies scattered from one another, just as debris scattered in different directions after a cosmic explosion. Obviously, if some objects scatter, then once they were closer to one another. Tracing the expansion of the universe back in time, astronomers have concluded that about 14 billion years ago. The universe was an incredibly hot and dense formation, the release of tremendous energy from which was caused by an explosion of colossal force.

2. Background radiation. Discovery of the cosmic microwave background. In the 1940s, physicist Georgy Gamow realized that the Big Bang was supposed to generate powerful radiation. His co-workers also suggested that the remnants of this radiation, cooled by the expansion of the universe, may still exist. In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of AT&T Bell Laboratories, scanning the sky with a radio antenna, found a faint, uniform crackle. What they initially mistook for radio interference turned out to be a faint "rustle" of radiation from the Big Bang. This is a homogeneous microwave radiation that penetrates the entire space (it is also called relic radiation). The temperature of this cosmic microwave background (cosmic microwave background) is exactly what it should be according to the calculations of astronomers (2.73 ° Kelvin), if the cooling has occurred uniformly since the Big Bang. For their discovery, A. Penzias and R. Wilson received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.

3. The abundance of helium in space. Astronomers have found that in relation to hydrogen, the amount of helium in space is 24% (the rest chemical elements reportedly less than 2% in the universe). Moreover, nuclear reactions inside stars do not take long enough to create so much helium. But helium is just as much as theoretically should have been formed during the Big Bang. The content of chemical elements is determined by analysis of radiation from space objects (mainly stars). As it turned out, the Big Bang theory successfully explains the phenomena observed in space, but remains only a starting point for studying initial stage development of the universe. For example, this theory, despite its name, does not put forward any hypotheses about the source of the "cosmic dynamite" that caused the Big Bang.

If we assume that 1 year has passed from the moment of the Big Bang to the present, the following calendar of events of this year can be compiled: New Year, January 1, 0 h 00 m 00 s - Big Bang. the first atoms March the first galaxies were formed April Our Galaxy was formed June the process of formation of galaxies is basically completed September The emergence of the Sun The emergence Solar system October The emergence of life (microorganisms) November Microbiota, the emergence of photosynthesis December, 1 -5 The formation of an oxygen atmosphere 15 The first multicellular 20 The emergence of invertebrates 26 The first dinosaurs 27 The first mammals 28 The first birds 29 The extinction of dinosaurs 30 The first primates December 31, 14 h Ramapithecus 22 h 30 m The first people New Year January 1, 00 h 00 m 03 s - XX century.

Evolution of matter in the Metagalaxy: 1. Atomic nuclei 2. Atoms 3. Molecules (the most complex molecules of the interstellar medium contain up to 13 atoms) 4. Dust particles, particles of matter containing up to 100 atoms 5. Giant polymer molecules 6. Single-celled living organisms 7. Chordates (vertebrates) 8. Human

Scenarios of the fate of the universe. The options for the development of the universe are calculated based on the general theory of relativity - modern theory gravity. The universe is viewed simplistically as a large homogeneous expanding sphere. Such models provide three futures - contraction, slowing expansion, and accelerating expansion. At present, the average density of galactic matter is r g = 3 × 10 -31 g / cm 3, however, the mass of each galaxy is much greater than the total mass of all objects observed in it. Visible matter is less than 5% of the density of the Metagalaxy, and invisible, "dark", of unknown nature - over 95%! It has now been established that about 20-25% are known to us types of matter (molecular clouds, remnants of stars, dwarf stars that are difficult to see, and the like). And 75% of the unknown mass is so "dark matter", the nature of which is still unknown. The first attempts to study the distribution of hidden matter in the space of the Metagalaxy showed that it is inhomogeneous and has a complex fiber-like structure. These fibers are commonly referred to as "hair". The future depends on the exact value of the density of the universe and on the magnitude of dark energy - energy of an unknown nature, which is evenly distributed in space and enhances the expansion of our universe. It is known that if our models are correct, then the density of our universe is close to critical (if it is greater, then there should be compression, if less, then a slowing expansion). However, in recent decades, dark energy was discovered, which makes up about 75% of the energy of the entire universe, and the remaining 25% falls on known types of matter (about 4 -5%) and dark matter (about 20%). Dark energy is causing our universe to expand at an accelerating rate. The further fate of our universe depends on how great this acceleration is. There are 2 options - eternal accelerated expansion and "end of the world". In the second case, the universe will not exist forever, its matter, space and time will be completely destroyed after some time by accelerated expansion.

How can the "end of the world" happen? This scenario assumes the achievement of an infinite expansion rate in a finite time. This means the complete destruction of matter, space and time of our universe, in order to understand what this means, you need to know what happened before the Big Bang. The first signs of the end of the world will be visible in the sky - the stars will first turn red, and then we will cease to see them. First, this will happen with more distant stars and galaxies, then with those nearby. Then the expansion will reach such a speed that it will begin to tear the Earth away from the Sun, but we will not have time to freeze, since the Earth will begin to collapse. Destabilization of the earth's crust and core will cause massive earthquakes, volcanic activity, and new splits in the earth's crust. We will expect massive cataclysms associated with this - for example, tsunamis caused by earthquakes, huge fires due to volcanic eruptions. In the end, life on the planet will be destroyed as a result of the destruction of the earth's crust. The hot lava will come to the surface and everything will burn up, even the oceans will evaporate. After that, even matter and atoms, space and time will disintegrate. The entire universe will cease to exist (perhaps it will return to some unknown state before the Big Bang). If Linde's theory of cosmic inflation is correct (the most popular at the moment among modern theoretical physicists), then the Big Bang is simply the appearance of a bubble in the primordial vacuum, which is constantly “boiling”. Bubbles-universes form all the time (for each of them this is the moment of the Big Bang) and disintegrate, the disintegration of one bubble can be described by such an end of the world.

Place of the Earth and the Solar System in the Milky Way Galaxy: where the sun and the planet are, parameters, distance from the center and plane, structure from the photo.

For centuries, scientists have believed that the Earth is the center of the entire universe. It is not difficult to think why this happened, because the Earth is in, and we could not look beyond its limits. Only a century of research and observation helped to understand that all celestial bodies in the system revolve around the main star.

The system itself also revolves around the galactic center. Although then people did not understand this either. I had to spend a certain period of time to guess about the existence of many galaxies and determine their place in ours. What place does Earth occupy in the Milky Way galaxy?

Location of the Earth in the Milky Way

Earth is located in the Milky Way galaxy. We live in a vast and spacious place, spanning 100,000 to 120,000 light years in diameter and roughly 1,000 light years across. The territory is home to 400 billion stars.

The galaxy received such a scale thanks to an unusual diet - it absorbed and continues to be fed by other small galaxies. For example, there is now a Dwarf Galaxy on the dining table in Big Dog whose stars join our disk. But if we compare with others, then ours is average. Even the neighboring one is twice as large.

Structure

The planet resides in a spiral galaxy with a bar. For many years, it was thought that there were 4 arms, but recent studies confirm only two: Shield-Centauri and Keel-Sagittarius. They emerged from dense waves orbiting the galaxy. That is, they are grouped stars and gas clouds.

What about a photo of the Milky Way galaxy? All of them are artistic interpretations or real pictures but very similar to our galaxies. Of course, we did not come to this right away, since no one could say exactly what it looks like (we are inside it).

Modern instruments make it possible to count up to 400 billion stars, each of which can be located on the planet. 10-15% of the mass goes to "luminous matter", and the rest is the stars. Despite the huge array, only 6,000 light-years in the visible spectrum open to us for observation. But here infrared devices come into play, opening up new territories.

Around the galaxy is a huge halo of dark matter, covering as much as 90% of the total mass. No one yet knows what it is, but her presence confirms the effect on other objects. It is believed to keep the Milky Way from disintegrating as it rotates.

The location of the solar system in the Milky Way

Earth is 25,000 light-years distant from the galactic center and the same distance from the edge. If we imagine the galaxy as a giant musical record, then we are located halfway between the central part and the edge. More specifically, we occupy a place in the Orion arm between the two main arms. It stretches for 3,500 light years in diameter and stretches for 10,000 light years.

It can be seen that the galaxy divides the heavens into two hemispheres. This suggests that we are located close to the galactic plane. The Milky Way has a low surface brightness due to the abundance of dust and gas that obscures the disk. This makes it difficult not only to see the central part, but also to look at the other side.

The system spends 250 million years to go around the entire orbital path - the "space year". Dinosaurs roamed the last pass on Earth. And what will happen next? Maybe people will die out altogether or will they be replaced by a new species?

All in all, we live in a huge and amazing place. New knowledge makes you get used to the fact that the universe is much larger than all the assumptions. Now you know where the Earth is in the Milky Way.

The large-scale structure of the universe resembles a system of veins and filaments separated by voids

The large-scale structure of the Universe is a cosmological term for the structure of the distribution of matter in the Universe at the largest.

An example of the simplest structure in outer space is the satellite-planet system. In addition to the two planets closest to the Sun (Mercury and Venus), all the others have their own satellite, and in most cases not even one. If only the Moon accompanies the Earth, then the whole revolves around Jupiter, although some of them are quite small. However, together with their satellites, the planets of the solar system revolve around the sun, forming the so-called planetary system.

As a result of observations, astronomers have revealed that most other stars are also part of planetary systems. At the same time, the stars themselves also often form systems and clusters, which were called stellar. According to the available data, the predominant part of the stars are, or with a multiple of the number of luminaries. In this regard, our Sun is considered atypical, since it does not have a pair

If we consider the circumsolar space on a larger scale, it becomes obvious that all star clusters, together with their planetary systems, form a star island, the so-called.

The history of studying the structure of the Universe

For the first time, the outstanding astronomer William Herschel pondered the idea of ​​a large-scale structure of the Universe. It is he who owns such discoveries as the discovery of the planet Uranus and its two satellites, two satellites of Saturn, the discovery of infrared radiation and the idea of ​​the solar system through outer space. Having independently constructed a telescope and carried out observations, he performed volumetric calculations of luminaries of various brightness in certain regions of the sky and came to the conclusion that there are a large number of stellar islands in outer space.

Later, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the American cosmologist Edwin Hubble was able to prove that some nebulae belong to structures other than the Milky Way. That is, it was reliably known that various star clusters also exist outside of our galaxy. Research in this direction soon greatly expanded our understanding of the universe. It turned out that in addition to the Milky Way, there are tens of thousands of other galaxies in outer space. In an attempt to draw up some kind of simplified map of the visible Universe, scientists stumbled upon the remarkable fact that galaxies in space and constitute other structures of unthinkable sizes.

Over time, scientists discovered that lone galaxies are quite rare in the universe. The overwhelming majority of galaxies form large-scale clusters, which can be different forms and include two galaxies or multiples up to several thousand. In addition to huge stellar islands, these massive stellar structures also include accumulations of gas heated to high temperatures. Despite its very low density (thousands of times less than in the solar atmosphere), the mass of this gas can significantly exceed the total mass of all stars in some sets of galaxies.

The results of observations and calculations led scientists to the idea that galaxy clusters can also form other larger structures. This was followed by two intriguing questions: if the galaxy itself, a complex structure, is part of some larger structure, can this structure be a composite of something even larger? And, in the end, is there a limit to such a hierarchical structure, when each system is part of the other?

A positive answer to the first question is confirmed by the presence of superclusters of galaxies, which in turn outgrow the galactic filaments, or as they are otherwise called "walls". Their thickness is on average about 10 million sv. years, and the length is 160 - 260 million light years. However, answering the second question, it should be noted that superclusters of galaxies are not a kind of isolated structure, but only denser sections of galactic walls. Therefore, today scientists are confident that it is the galactic filaments (walls), the largest cosmic structures, mixed with voids (empty space free from star clusters) that form the fibrous or cellular structure of the Universe.

Position of the Earth in the Universe

Departing somewhat from the topic, we indicate the position of our planet in such a complex structure:

1. Planetary system: Solar
2. Local interstellar cloud
3. Orion Galactic Arm
4. Galaxy: Milky Way
5. Cluster of galaxies:
6. Supercluster of galaxies: Local supercluster (Virgo)
7. Supercluster of galaxies: Laniakeya
8. Wall: Pisces-Whale Supercluster Complex

Modern research results claim that the universe consists of no less than 200 billion galaxies. Galactic walls by their nature are relatively flat and constitute the walls of the "cells" of the Universe, and the places of their intersection form the superclusters of galaxies. In the center of these cells are voids (English void - emptiness).

Analysis of the three-dimensional model of the distribution of galaxies formed by scientists suggests that the cellular structure is observed at a distance of more than a billion light years in any direction. This information allows us to believe that on a scale of several hundred million light years, any fragment of the Universe will have almost the same amount of matter. And this proves that the Universe is homogeneous on the indicated scales.

The causes of the large-scale structure of the Universe

Despite the presence of such large-scale structures as galactic walls and filaments, the largest stable structures are still clusters of galaxies. The fact is that the known expansion of the Universe gradually stretches the structure of any objects, and only gravity can fight this force. As a result of observations of clusters and superclusters, such a stunning effect as "" was discovered. That is, the rays passing through interstellar space are bent, which indicates the presence of a huge invisible, hidden mass in it. It can belong to various unobservable cosmic bodies, but on such scales it most likely belongs

Einstein's cross - gravitationally lensed quasar

Based on the almost homogeneous, scientists are convinced that the substance in the Universe should be distributed evenly. But the peculiarity of gravity is that it tends to pull any physical particles into dense structures, thereby violating homogeneity. Thus, some time after the Big Bang, insignificant inhomogeneities in the distribution of matter in space began to contract more and more into some structures. Their increasing gravity (due to the increase in mass per volume) gradually slowed down the expansion until it stopped it altogether. Moreover, in some parts the expansion turned into contraction, which caused the formation of galaxies and galaxy clusters.

A similar model was verified using computer calculations. Taking into account the very insignificant fluctuations (fluctuations, deviations) in the homogeneity of the relict radiation, the computer calculated that the same small fluctuations after the Big Bang with the help of gravity could well have generated clusters of galaxies and a cellular large-scale structure of the Universe.