Where
It really started with Galileo in the 1600’s when he used a new invention from Holland called a telescope. He was amazed to see there were moons orbiting Jupiter, and not the earth – an astounding discovery – after all, everyone at that time believed the earth was the center of it all. As it turned out, the correctness of that idea was not even close to reality.
As telescopes greatly improved over the centuries since Galileo, observations determined the earth to be part of a solar system with the earth being just one of eight planets, all circling the sun.
How the solar system formed is shown below:
As telescopes greatly improved over the centuries since Galileo, observations determined the earth to be part of a solar system with the earth being just one of eight planets, all circling the sun.
How the solar system formed is shown below:
Above from A to E, shows the stages of the mass of dust coalescing from the original dust cloud into the planetary system we know and love. It is clear from the above that most of the mass of the dust cloud went to form the sun with the remaining dust forming the planets.
So this immense planet we live on takes us days to circumnavigate, even in a high powered jet airplane. But is it really that huge? Here’s a scale showing our true place in the solar system.
See that small dot, 3rd from the left – that’s us my friend.
But surely the sun is a colossal edifice in the heavens above. Well, maybe not so. See the sketch below:
But surely the sun is a colossal edifice in the heavens above. Well, maybe not so. See the sketch below:
In the 1920’s Edwin Hubble greatly increased our knowledge of what is actually out there. Up to that time, the early 20th century, the accepted understanding was that the solar system was located in a galaxy we call the Milky Way, which is composed of several billion stars, and that this galaxy constituted the entire, known universe. But Hubble showed our galaxy itself is only one of several billion galaxies in the known and visible universe. Today we know the visible universe is 92 billion light years in extent. And we also know that the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, a mere 2.5 million light years away.
Furthermore Hubble showed that all the galaxies are moving away from each other much as dots painted on an expanding balloon all move away from each other. This discovery was a solid indication that, if all the galaxies were moving away from each other, they must have been closer and closer in the past, having some common origination. It was finally determined that beginning occurred 13.7 billion years ago.
These astounding discoveries truly give us the narrative of the almost unfathomable bounds to the visible universe. And we find we are only a tiny, tiny most insignificant part of that great universe.
Furthermore Hubble showed that all the galaxies are moving away from each other much as dots painted on an expanding balloon all move away from each other. This discovery was a solid indication that, if all the galaxies were moving away from each other, they must have been closer and closer in the past, having some common origination. It was finally determined that beginning occurred 13.7 billion years ago.
These astounding discoveries truly give us the narrative of the almost unfathomable bounds to the visible universe. And we find we are only a tiny, tiny most insignificant part of that great universe.
