{ On the Shoulders of Giants Organization of the universe
THE UNIVERSE: 3 theories 1. Open, expands forever 2. Closed, like a saddle 3. expanding and contracting
Galaxies: contain stars, huge clouds of gas and dust (nebulae) which revolve around a nucleus. Three types
Spiral galaxies: Very organized like our Milky Way galaxy
Elliptical Galaxies: Sphere or flattened disk, older stars, little gas and dust
Irregular galaxies: No specific shape
Stars: Made up of mostly Hydrogen and Helium. Formed by collapsing gas and dust
Nebulae: Birthplace of stars, globs of gas and dust. Full of radio, UV, IR, and X- Rays
Star Clusters: Open (Pleiades) and Globular(Hercules)
Single star: Our sun. Single star systems are relatively uncommon.
Binary Star systems: Double Stars. Very common type of star system.
Novas: nuclear explosion of a white dwarf star. Causes increased brightness of a star.