1. 1 Our place in the Universe

2. 2 This is what we think our galaxy, the Milky Way, looks like. The Sun is about ½ way from the center on a galactic arm The sun is NOT this big NOR is it a star shape (shhh it’s round). The Sun takes 225 million years to orbit the center

3. 3 The Sun is NOT the biggest star! 109 Earths fit across the diameter of the SUN. You can fit 1.3 million Earths INSIDE the Sun The Sun, the planets and anything that orbits the Sun is called the Solar System.

4. 4 The SUN These stars are NOT the biggest either The Sun is average in size and temp These stars are bigger

5. 5 These are!!! The sun is so small in this picture that it takes as much space as ONE pixel of this image!!!!

6. 6 The Known Universe

7. 7 Is the Milky Way the only galaxy out there??? NO WAY!!! We are one of billions! * We estimate there are over 100 billion GALAXIES beyond our own!

8. 8 Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) Every point of light you see is another galaxy filled with 100s of billions of stars. Except for….. THAT AND THIS Hubble took 11 days to look at a spot in the sky that appeared to be empty. This is what it found.

9. 9 Where did they all come from? BANG!!! (the big one)

10. 10 What is the BB? Approximately 13.82 billion years ago (bya) or, 13,820,000,000 yrs. there was an explosion OF space and time (not IN space and time like normal sized bangs). So, in short, the Big B was the formation of our Universe (all energy, matter, and space-time) BANG!!!

11. 11 E= mc 2 Energy = matter x speed of light squared It means energy can be converted to matter and vice-versa.

12. 12 Does it matter? Initially after the Big Bang there was only Energy. As the universe expanded, it cooled. This allowed the first subatomic particles to form (protons, neutron, electrons). The simplest elements were the first to form. Hydrogen and helium. The fuel for STARS!

13. 13 Is there any evidence of the BB? YUP!!! There are TWO main pieces of evidence: 1. The universe is expanding… 2. In every single direction we look in space we see… Cosmic Background Radiation –That’s left over energy from the Big Bang bouncing around the universe.

14. 14 Here is a map of it You have to imagine that this is our entire 3-dimensional view of the sky flattened into a map. EVERY 3-dimensional direction we look we see CBR (cosmic background radiation).

15. 15 Gravity Waves Acceleration of massive object can cause a ripple in space-time. *** Image BICEP 2 experiment. *** Still needs to be confirmed from other experiments!!!

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