Milky Way Gamma Ray Bubbles and Dwarf Galaxies?

- 1703  -  Milky Way Bubbles and Star Steamers?  Our Galaxy has giant lobes of Gamma Ray bubbles exiting at the poles.  It also has a halo of streams of stars from the cannibalization of Dwarf Galaxies.  It also has a Dark Matter halo of unknown particles.  Let’s review these mysteries.
-
-

-
--------------------------- 1703  -  Milky Way Bubbles and Star Steamers?
-
-  How things change when you look at the world, the Universe, through different eyes.
-
-  When Galileo first used the telescope he discovered that the Milky Way was not a glowing cloud but a countless number of individual stars.
-
-  Today, with Gamma Ray telescopes, orbiting in space, astronomers see “luminous” lobes , bubbles, extending above and below the galactic center extending thousands of lightyears.  One lightyear is 5,880,000,000,000 miles.
-
-  We know the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is occupied by a super massive Blackhole.  But, we can not explain how a Blackhole creates giant luminous lobes.  Luminous in Gamma rays.  We could not see these lobes before orbiting telescopes because our atmosphere blocks  Gamma Rays from reaching the surface.
-
-  In 2003 astronomers were puzzled trying to study the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.  To get an accurate picture of the Universe outside they wanted to subtract microwave energy generated inside out Milky Way Galaxy.
-
-  A model was created for the galactic microwave emissions.  It worked except for the inner part of the galaxy.  At first astronomers believed this could be explained by hidden Dark Matter at the center of the galaxy.  Could Dark Matter particles be colliding near the center creating this excess high energy?
-
-  The process of particle collision creating Gamma Ray emissions is called Synchrotron Radiation ,coming from electrons and protons.  There is also Inverse Compton Scattering coming from photons.  In 2009 the Fermi space satellite was designed to measure Gamma Rays and prove if this Dark Matter theory was right.
-
-  The hazy Gamma Rays detected exactly matched the microwave haze.  What amazed astronomers was that the Gamma Ray emissions had clear, distinct edges.  They showed up as gigantic bubbles, not a uniform radiation.
-
-  Making bubbles:  Material falling into a Blackhole spins , like water draining out of the bathtub.  The spinning hot gas and dust of charged particles creates an intense magnetic field, like a spinning electric motor.  This magnetic field powers jets exiting out the poles of the spinning magnet.  The shockwave from these jets create giant bubbles of Gamma Ray radiation.  It is the edge of the shockwave that we are seeing.
-
-  Making bubbles:  Another theory is that many giant supernovae near the center exploded driving a wind of hot gas out from the galactic center.  Over 6 million years bubbles this size could be inflated.
-
-  The amazing aspect of the bubbles for astronomers is their intense luminosity in Gamma Rays, but, nearly invisible in light waves.
-
-  More intense studies are being made mapping microwave radiation and X-ray radiation on top of the Gamma Ray radiation.
-
-  Other Reviews about Gamma Rays:  #1482,  #1323, #1238, #1158, #26 available upon request.
-
-  Gamma Rays have billion of times more energy than visible light.

-  Also See Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope
-
-  Synchrotron radiation  =    When a charged particle changes direction it emits radiation.
-
-  Inverse Compton radiation  =  When an electron smacks head-on with a photon the collision shoots off Gamma Ray radiation
-
-  Bremsstrahlung radiation  =  When an electron shoots past an ion ( a charged particle) the electrostatic attraction bends the path of the electron and it radiates Gamma Rays with its loss of energy.
-
-  Our Milky Way Galaxy is even more mysterious than we thought.  Not only are there these Gamma Ray lobes outside the galaxy there is are halo of stars streaming around the galaxy.
-
-  Astronomers think this halo is the result of our Milky Way Galaxy gobbling up many tiny dwarf galaxies.  In fact , the Milky Way is today not just one galaxy.  At least 20 Dwarf Galaxies from 1/100th to 1/1,000,000th the size of the Milky Way are orbiting our big Galaxy.  There are more dwarf galaxies that are likely still undiscovered.
-
-  Many of the Dwarf Galaxies swallowed up by the Milky Way left streams of stars that stretch across the sky.  The process works like this:
-
-  The larger galaxy’s gravity creates tidal forces that pull more strongly on the near side than on the far side of the Dwarf Galaxy.
-
-  These tidal forces gradually stretch out the galaxy along the line between it and the large galaxy.
-
-  Individual stars get pulled off forming stellar streams.
-
-  The streams eventually spread and become more diffuse encircling the larger galaxy.  The Milky Way was about one dozen of these star streams encircling it .  Many more star streams likely exist but are too faint for astronomers to detect.
-
-  More mysterious still is in addition to these visible halo streams of stars, our galaxy has another halo of Dark Matter.  Astronomers can not see it, don’t know what it is .  They perceive it through its gravitational effects on Ordinary Matter.
-
-  The star streams are identified because regardless of the dispersion stars never forget where and when they were born.  Their chemical compositions remain the same.  Stars forming later in the galaxy will contain more of the heavier elements that were formed in supernovae explosions  Every star has a fingerprint for when and where it was born.
-
-  Astronomers studying these streams hope to sketch out a sequence of cannibalizations and trace the accretion history of our galaxy.  In the process maybe some of these galactic mysteries will be solved.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Friday, December 12, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Europa - Jupiter's icy moon?

- 1702  -  Europa -  Ice Shells on the Move?  Europa’s image taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft ( 1995) is fascinating.  This moon of Jupiter has plate tectonics.  You can see Europa with binoculars along with 3 other Jupiter moons.
-

--------------------------- 1702  -  Europa -  Ice Shells on the Move?
-
-  Europa’ image taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft ( 1995) is fascinating.  This moon of Jupiter has plate tectonics just like Earth, only it’s ice.
-
-  Astronomers discovered this when the icy surface was dated to be younger than 90 million years.  Since the Solar System is 4,600 million years old this icy surface must be recycled through geological activity, called subduction.  Dinosaurs ruled the Earth 65 million years ago and Earth went through a subduction of sorts about the same time.
-
-  A new surface crust is being created by the subduction process.  Cracks and ridges abruptly disappear as one ice shell dives below another.  The planet appears to harbor a deep global ocean with a floating, fragmented, shifting ice shell.
-
-  Europa is 80% larger that our Moon. It has a diameter of 1,944 miles.  It can easily be seen with binoculars having a brightness Magnitude of 5.0.  (  6.0 is considered normal naked eye viewing)
-
-  Europa gets 25 times less sunlight than our Moon , plunging its surface temperature to
 -300F.  There would be not liquid water except for the tidal forces of the mammoth planet Jupiter.  Jupiter’s gravity constantly twists and distorts Europa’s mantel.  Flexing and generating internal heat through friction.  This heat keeps liquid water 15 to 19 miles below the surface.
-
-  Request these other Reviews to learn more about Europa:
-
-  #1361  Jupiter’s moons
-
-  #1152  Can Europa’s oceans support life?  The under surface ocean is a rich soup of organic chemicals and oxygen.
-
-  #812  Europa orbits Jupiter each 3.55 Earth days.  Europa is probably our best discover so far as a possible harbor of life outside Mother Earth.  We have found life in Earth’s oceans near volcanic fissures much like the conditions expected to exist below the ice shells of Europa.  Stay tuned, more discoveries are in the making.
-
-  Here is a great video that tells the story of Europa:
-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9VhCQbPAk&feature=youtu.be
-
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Wednesday, December 10, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Expanding Universe is speeding up?

- 1701  -  The Expanding Universe?  The Universe’s expansion was slowing the first 5 billion years due to gravity.  The last 5 billion years the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.  Today it is expanding at 47,000 miles per hour for every 1 million lightyears of space.
-
-

-
--------------------------- 1701  -  The Expanding Universe? ?
-
-  When the Hubble Space Telescope looks back in time it can see how active star formation was occurring over billions of years.
-
-  The Conclusion: The peak in star formation occurred 5 billion years ago.  Star formation has become consistently less active ever since.
-
-  To see back this far the Hubble camera has to take a very long time exposure lasting 72 hours.  The focus remains on one spot in the sky.  The diameter of the spot is the size of 10% that of a full moon.
-
-  Hubble began a second study, called “ CANDLES” that repeated these measurements for 600 hours over an area the size of a full moon ( ½ arc degree ).  250,000 galaxies are under study from this data collection.
-
-  Astronomers are seeing that the “ Red Galaxies “ are usually elliptical and featureless.  These Red Galaxies stopped forming stars about 1 billion years ago.  “ Blue Galaxies” tended to be flat disks with spiral arms possessing lots of cold gas and stars of different ages.
-
-  The oldest galaxies are found with a look-back time of 10 billion years .  The Big Bang occurred with a look-back time of 13.7 billion years.
-
-  Astronomers are surprised to find Red Galaxies being already common only 3 billion years after the Big Bang.
-
-  Elliptical, Blue Galaxies found were only 30% the size of typical elliptical galaxies found today.  Clearly elliptical galaxies have grown over time through mergers and collisions.   Our Milky Way galaxy has devoured dozens of smaller, dwarf galaxies.  The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy will devour each other 5 billion years from now.
-
-  5 billion years ago was the peak of star formation and these galaxies were distorted and misshapen, clumpy, and irregular.  Clearly our smooth disks and spiral armed galaxies have gained their shape over time.
-
-  The picture astronomers are putting together suggests that after the Big Bang the Universe was nearly a uniform sea of Dark Matter, and, hydrogen and helium gas, ordinary matter. As the Universe expanded uniformity gave way to denser regions of Dark Matter gravitationally causing cold gas to expand more slowly.  Eventually these dense regions collapsed into smaller structures.   The structures appeared as filaments interconnected to denser blobs of gas and Dark Matter.  These blobs were the seeds of the formation of the galaxies.
-
-  The early galaxies formed from clumps weighing a billion Solar mass and rapidly formed stars.  At the same time this process led to the rapid growth of super massive Blackholes.  Galaxies 10 billion years ago were 10% the mass of the Milky Way and were churning our stars at a rate 100 times faster than our galaxy today.
-
-  Because super massive stars burn so brightly they produce ultraviolet light in prodigious quantities.  Neutral hydrogen gas can be ionized by absorbing ultraviolet light.  The gas became free electrons and protons that caused the intergalactic medium to become ionized with charged particles.
-
-  Another discovery was made by taking time exposures 60 days apart.  Subtracting one image from another revealed anything that changed.  Supernovae explosions could be easily detected.  Using their intrinsic brightness ratios to their apparent brightness the galaxy distances could be calculated.
-
-  The Result:  Cosmic expansion was decelerating over the first 5 billion years.  Expansion has been accelerating ever since.  To get a 3-D picture of expanding space and competing contracting gravity forces 3 measurements were used.  The telescope measures the position of the star in the sky.  The spectroscope uses a prism to split the starlight in to its constituent colors.  The spectroscope  is used to measure the stars radial velocity.  It also measures the star’s temperature, age and composition.
-
-  The telescope measures proper motion across the sky and parallax.  Its resolution capability is analogous to measuring the size of a quarter 3 miles away.  When all three measurements are taken together a star’s 3-D position in space can be calculated.  ( GAIA spacecraft at Lagrangian orbit 900,000 altitude is doing this.)
-
-  These measurements are confirming that the Universe is expanding 47,000 miles per hour for every 1 million lightyears of space. The Sun is 93 million miles from the Earth.  If Dark Energy alone was the expanding force that amount of space would expand 4.13 inches per year. Someone needs to double check my math.   I don’t thing we would notice 4 inches a year.  And , of course, gravity is the other force in the opposite direction.  Angular momentum another force.  What makes expanding space significant is the enormous distances between galaxies in the Universe.  There is a whole lot of space out there to expand.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  3.16 *10^7 seconds per year.
-  5.88  * 10^12 miles per lightyear.
-  47,000 miles per hour is 827,000 inches per second
-  Sun distance is 9.3*10^5 miles
-  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Wednesday, December 10, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neutrinos - A summary of what we have learned?

- 1700 -  Neutrino  -  A summary of what we have learned so far.  They are nearly massless and travel nearly the speed of light.  They are as abundant as photons but behave quite differently.  They are generated in fusion and fission processes, some to enormous energies.
-
-

-
---------------------------  1700 -  Neutrino  -  What we learned about the “Little One“?
-
-  Neutrinos, what are they and where did they come from?  Neutrinos are atomic particles, part of the nucleus of atoms.  Their charges are neutral and they are nearly massless.  The photon is massless, simply a particle of energy.  The neutrino is close to massless.  Neutrinos do not interact with matter except slightly with the Weak Nuclear Force.  Also, if they have a slight mass then that implies they must also interact with the Higgs Field.
-
-  Neutrinos bombard us constantly because they arrive with the Sunlight.  The fusion reactions at the core of the Sun produces billions of neutrinos.  They  arrive at near the speed of light and pass right through our bodies and through the entire Earth without obstruction.
-
-  Hold up your thumb towards the Sun.
-
-  65,000,000,000 neutrinos are passing through your thumbnail every second.  Neutrinos pass through your body unimpeded.  That is why they are so hard to detect.
-
-  In contrast photons are massless and carry energy depending on their wavelength.  In sunlight 79,000,000,000,000,000 photons hit your thumbnail every second.  Your eye can detect their reflection, maybe even feel some heat from ultraviolet.  You would even see the bone if it were X-rays wavelengths.  The shorter the wavelength the greater the energy.  E  =  h / w.
-
-  Neutrino mass is small, unknown , but less than 1,000,000th  the mass of an electron.
-
------------------  Neutrino mass  <  0.13 electron volts  /  c^2
-
-  Neutrino’s energy comes in three generations:
-
--------------------Electron Neutrinos   <  2.5 electron volts
--------------------Muon Neutrinos   <  170,000  electron volts
--------------------Tau Neutrinos   <  18,000,000  electron volts
-
-  How can we possible catch one of these “little ones” to study it?
-
-  Astronomers have made a major attempt at the South Pole.  They have installed 5,160 detectors in one cubic kilometer of ice.  After 2 years of data collecting astronomers think they have discovered 80 high energy Tau Neutrinos that came to us from somewhere , other than our Sun, which are all low energy Electron Neutrinos.  One possibility is that Cosmic Rays slamming into our upper atmosphere could produce high energy neutrinos, much like a particle accelerator does in our science labs.
-
-  These high energy Tau Neutrinos carry 10 trillion times more energy than visible light photons.  They have 1 million times more energy than the neutrinos discovered coming from the Supernova 1987A that occurred in our neighbor galaxy, the Large Megellanic Cloud.
-
-  Neutrinos are generated in fusion and fission reactions in stars mostly.  However, low energy neutrinos are created in radioactive decay.  Your body contains 20 milligrams of Potassium 40, a natural radioactive element.  As a result your body is emitting 340,000,000 neutrinos every day.  But, don’t expect to loose much weight.
-
-  Low energy neutrinos exit the fusion in the core of the Sun and reach the Earth in 8 minutes, nearly the speed of light.  Photons created at the same time in Gamma Ray wavelengths interact with the electromagnetic and nuclear forces in the hydrogen and helium atoms scattering so many times it takes them 40,000 years to reach the surface of the Sun.  By then they have lost so much energy their longer wavelengths are green light that reaches the Earth in 8 minutes scatters in the upper nitrogen atmosphere creating a blue sky and a yellow Sun to us surface dwellers.
-
-  For astronomers it has been a mystery where the high energy, Tau Neutrinos, are being created.  They come from somewhere outside our Solar System.    Astronomers have 4 instruments using coordinated detection to possibly answer this question:
-
------------------------  ICECube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole
------------------------  Chandra X-ray observatory in orbit.
------------------------  Swift Gamma-Ray observatory in orbit
------------------------  Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope, NuSTAR
-
-  Over the last 4 years, 2010 - 2014, ICECube has detected 80 high energy Tau Neutrinos.  ( See Review # 1219 to learn about the ICECube observatory).
-
-  Chandra X-ray observatory witnessed a giant flare outburst from the Blackhole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.  Exactly 3 hours later ICECube detected a neutrino signature.  3 other X-ray telescopes detectors received corresponding data on this high energy neutrino.
-
------------  CONCLUSION:  Blackholes are one source for high energy neutrinos.
-
-  Astronomer’s theory is that particles orbiting around a Blackhole get accelerated by a shockwave, like a sonic boom, launching charged particles at enormous velocities that decay into high energy neutrinos.  This may be the same mechanism that launches high energy Cosmic Rays.  But, Cosmic Rays are charged particles that change directions in magnetic fields so many times we can not determine their trajectories.
-
-  Could all these neutrinos in the Cosmos explain Dark Matter that represents 23% of all the mass-energy in the Universe.  Normal matter represents less than 5%.
-
-  If we really did invent a neutrino telescope we could learn a lot about the Universe.  Electromagnetic wave detection is nice but still limiting in how much we can see.  Stay tuned, there is much more to learn.
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  Other Reviews on the topic of Neutrinos available upon request:
-
-  #1631  Neutrinos used to detect Supernovae Explosions.
-  #1608  Left-handed neutrinos interact with Gravity ad the Weak Nuclear Force.
-  #1589  Neutrinos have a half-spin in angular momentum.
-  #1511 Sterile Neutrinos, would interact with Gravity but none of the other forces.
-  # 1219  ICE Cube , neutrino telescope at the South Pole.
-  # 1139  The Universe will light up when we can see with neutrino eyes.
-  # 732  Neutrino Thermal history, Big Bang to present.
-  # 630  History of neutrino discoveries since 1927.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Sunday, December 7, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supernova, Close to Home?

- 1699  -  Supernovae, Close to Home?  This review explores the possibility of a supernova occurring in our Milky Way Galaxy in our lifetimes.  What can we expect?
-
-

-
---------------------------  1699  -  Supernovae, Close to Home?
-
-  Our Sun is too small to ever go “ supernova”.  I will die a slow death over the next 5,000,000,000 years as it burns away its hydrogen and helium fuel.  It will end up a beautiful planetary nebula with a White Dwarf Star left behind.
-
-  The White Dwarf will still be hot, but, it will have exhausted all its hydrogen and helium fuel.  The nuclear furnace at its core will shut off and the cool down period will begin.  It will last for eons.
-
-  Our Sun does not seem small to us.  It is burning 600,00,000 tons of hydrogen every second.  That nuclear reaction produces 596,000,000 tons of helium every second.  The remaining 4,000,000 tons transforms into pure energy according to E = m*c^2.
-
-  At the core the energy starts out as high energy Gamma Rays, but, by the time it reaches the surface of the Sun , which takes 40,000 years scattering off the dense atoms.  It looses energy and exit’s the surface as green sunlight.
-
--------------------  Energy  =  mass * (speed of light )^2
-
-  We see this energy in the form of sunshine.  The energy that powers all life on Earth.
-
-  Most of the stars in the night sky will behave in the same way.  There are some more massive stars where their lifetime process becomes much different.
-
-  The truly large stars 6 time to 20 times the mass of our Sun will not go quietly.  Once their nuclear fuel is extinguished their enormous gravity will cause an implosion to the center, then an explosion , into interstellar space.  The explosion is called a “ supernova”.
-
-  One our two supernova will explode in our Milky Way Galaxy every century.  The luminosity of each of these explosions will be 10 billion times greater than that of our Sun.  One supernova is equivalent to a galaxy’s luminosity with 10 billion stars.  What is left behind is not a White Dwarf star but a Neutron Star, possible a Blackhole.
-
-  We catalogued the first Supernova recording in 1680, known as Cassiopeia A.
-
-  The next supernova recorded occurred in 1860 in Sagittarius.
-
-  The most recent supernova close by in a neighboring galaxy, The Large Megellanic Cloud, was Supernova 1987A.
-
-  Remember, a supernova explosion occurs every one or two seconds somewhere in the Observable Universe.  But, one or two per 100 years in our own Galaxy.  This list of 5 massive stars in our galactic vicinity are the next likely candidates to go supernova.  We could see these explosions with the naked eye.  Google these stars to get a detailed description:
-
-----------------------  JK   Pegasi
----------------------  Spica
---------------------- Betelgeuse
---------------------  Rigel
----------------------  Gamma Velorium  -  A Wolf-Rayet star
---------------------  RS Ophiuchi  -  A Red Giant and White Dwarf pair.
-
-  JK Pegasi is the closest.  It is 1.7 Solar Mass with a binary companion White Dwarf star at 1.2 Solar Mass.
-
-  Some 260 lightyears away is Spica in the Constellation Virgo.  It is a 10 Solar Mass star.  Every star seems to have a different scenario for life expectancy.  A 10 Solar Mass star will fuse helium into carbon and oxygen. More massive stars greater than 10 Solar Mass will fuse helium into carbon, then neon, oxygen, silicon, iron, nickel.  Spica could become this type supernova.
-
-  Betelgeuse is 640 lightyears away.  It is a 20 Solar Mass  Red Supergiant star.  It could go supernova in 20,000 to 100,000 years from now, or maybe tomorrow.
-
-  Gamma-Velorium, a Wolf-Rayet star will be a special supernova because it is 30 Solar Mass.  It is 1,100 lightyears away.
-
-  When we get into the astronomical details we begin to realize each star is different.  That in and of itself should tell us how unique we are.  Each star is different but here is a general scenario of a star going supernova:
-
- A massive star has so much gravity that it collapse all the element’s protons into the nuclei until the heaviest element is created, iron.  Iron stops the process because it can not add anymore protons unless it adds energy.  Up to iron adding protons, fusion, releases energy.  It is that outward energy that keeps the star from collapsing.   When the gravity gets so intense the electrons orbiting the iron collapse into the protons residing in the nucleus and become neutrons, releasing an explosion of neutrinos in the process.
-
-  When the star’s core collapses in this manner it reaches the center and bounces releasing an enormous amount of energy.    Up to 100 times more energy than the Sun will release over its entire 10 billion year lifetime.  The ball of neutrons left behind is a Neutron Star.  The explosion that creates and splatters elements into interstellar space is a supernova.  The shockwave causing this is traveling 22,000,000 miles per hour slamming into the outer layers of the massive star.
-
-  The scattering debris of the supernovae carry all the variety of elements in the periodic table throughout the Universe.  We are still learning exactly how stars explode.  In many ways they are all different , like snowflakes.  Stay tuned, the next one in the Milky way could happen in your lifetime.  Now, when it happens you will know what it is.
-
-  Picture is the Crab Nebula .  It is a supernova that exploded 7,500 years ago.  But, it is 6,500 lightyears away.  So the image we see is only 1,000 years after it exploded.  Already the shockwave is 6 lightyears in diameter.  We are looking into the past.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Thursday, December 4, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How rare in the Universe are we?

- 1698  -  How rare are we in the Universe?  We are made of elements created in exploding stars.  Our world has such abundance but how rare is this abundance in the Universe?
-
-

-
---------------------------  1698  -  How rare are we in the Universe?
-
-  How small are we in the scheme of things, universally speaking.  Where did we come from?  When did we get here?  How and why is religion and that is way above my pay grade.  Here is some low cost astronomy and physics lessons to put in perspective how rare are we?
-
-  We think that the total mass-energy in the Universe is 28% matter, with its gravity, and 72% anti-gravity, called Dark Energy.  Of that 28% matter, 23% is Dark Matter and only 5% is Ordinary Matter.  Ordinary Matter is what makes up everything we know about in our “world“.  We do not know what Dark Matter is?  But, it is responsible for the structure of the galaxies and clusters of galaxies.  We do not know what Dark Energy is but it is responsible for accelerating the expansion of space between all the galaxies.
-
-  For ever 1 million lightyears of space galaxies are receding each other by 47,000 miles per hour.  Space every where in the Universe is expanding. The rate of expansion is called Hubble’s Constant.   All matter us getting rarified as space gets bigger.
-
-  Now that 5% Ordinary Matter, 75% is Hydrogen and 25% is Helium.  That is what our Sun and the stars and most of the Universe are made of.  Hydrogen and Helium were originally created in the Big Bang.  But, what makes all the elements in the rest of the Solar System?  The moons , planets, and all biology is in the tenths of percentile of that Ordinary Matter dominated by Hydrogen and Helium.  Everything outside the Sun and the stars can be considered rare, trace elements.
-
-  Where did the trace elements heavier than hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium come from if they were not created in the beginning of the Universe?  Hydrogen is one proton.  Helium is two protons, Lithium 3, Beryllium 4 , Boron 5.  But, all protons are positive charges.  Like charges repel each other.  How do the protons get combined in the nuclei of atoms to become heavier elements
-
-  Putting 2 protons together to make Helium takes a tremendous  amount of pressure and very high temperatures.  It is like put the north poles of two magnets together, they just refuse to touch until overpowered by a greater force.  The center of the Sun has enough pressure and temperature to accomplish the creation of Helium from two Hydrogen protons.
-
-  Stars like the Sun did not form until after 400,000,000 years of expansion and cooling of the Universe.  Hydrogen and Helium gas throughout space began to concentrate due the gravity of their collective mass.  Eventually the concentration got so great and the density and pressure so great that the .like positive electric forces of protons broke down and Hydrogen converted in to Helium.  The star’s core became a fusion furnace burning Hydrogen and creating Helium and creating energy.
-
-  Two protons are slightly heavier than the Helium nucleus containing the 2 protons.  The difference in mass was converted directly to energy,  E = m*c^2.  The energy was in the form of Gamma Ray radiation to make the stars shine.  It is the energy generated in the fusion process.
-
-  Our Sun is a medium size star that has enough gravity to create this Hydrogen to Helium fusion process.  In fact the Sun contains enough Hydrogen to fuse Helium for 10 billion years.  The truly massive stars will burn so fast there fusion furnace will only burn for a few hundred million years.
-
-  Our Sun is a 2nd or 3rd generation star.  When our Solar System was formed around the Sun there were elements in orbit that came from the explosions of other previously massive stars.  It was these other elements that created the moons, planets, and biology of life circling out Sun.
-
- The Sun’s fusion still provides the energy.  Gamma Rays emitted at the core scatter through the helium and hydrogen atoms for 40,000 years to reach the surface.  The Gamma Rays loose much of their energy in this journey to the surface and the leave as much lower energy, green light.  It takes only 8 minutes of this sunlight to reach the Earth and to scatter in the upper nitrogen atmosphere creating the blue sky and the yellow Sun to us observers on the surface of Earth.
-
-  In 5 billion years from now our Sun will have fused all the hydrogen in to helium, the helium will fuse into carbon and oxygen.  Then fusion will stop.  The gravity pressure is not great enough to fuse the heavier elements.  It takes a bigger star.  Our star will die as a planetary nebula leaving behind a White Dwarf star of carbon and oxygen.  With no fusion to create energy it will gradually cool to a cold cinder floating in space.
-
-  But , if the star is more massive fusion would continue into the heavier elements releasing Gamma Ray energy at each step.  Carbon atom’s nuclei would fuse adding protons to form neon, then magnesium, silicon, sulfur, argon, calcium , iron, nickel. Iron would have 56 protons.  At that juncture in the fusion the process changes.  Iron absorbs energy in gathering another proton rather than emitting energy.  Its nucleus is heavier than the sum of the 56 protons.  How do the elements heavier than iron get created?
-
-  When the iron core of the massive store receives pressure beyond this point another process change occurs.  The atoms are mostly empty space with a small nucleus at the center and a cloud of electrons orbiting.  When the pressure exceeds the ability of the electrons to orbit they collapse into the nuclei protons to form neutrons.  The center of the star becomes a Neutron Star.  The collapse of the electrons causes a tremendous rebound at the center creating a shockwave and a massive release of neutrinos.  The star’s explosion is called a supernova.
-
-  The shockwave blasts through the shells of the lighter elements that surrounded the heavier iron core.  The energy is immense, 10 billion times more than the total energy from the Sun.  Put another way, since the Sun has a lifetime of 10 billion years, the supernova releases more energy in one second then the Sun releases in its entire lifetime.
-
-  The energy of this shockwave blasting through the lighter elements fuses all the heavier elements above iron, up to lead and uranium.  It is fission energy added to these nuclei to create heavier elements with a greater number of protons in the nucleus.  In fact Uranium is so heavy it will decay releasing its fission energy in its natural state.  That is how we get the 90 elements in the periodic table.  That the is source of the rare elements that make all the moons, planets, and biology. Getting biology out of this process is probably the rarest process.
-
-  How rare are supernovae exploding in our Galaxy?    They have in the past and some are likely in the future.  See  Review # 1699 to learn of the potential massive star explosion occurring close to home.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Thursday, December 4, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From beginning to end? The story of the Universe

- 1697  -  The story beginning to end.  What happened over the past 13.7 billion years.  How did we get to where we are today?  95% of it we do not know.  How fun is that?
-
-

-
---------------------------  1697  -  The story beginning to end.
-
-  This all happened 13,700,000,000 years ago.  In case you missed it.  It was the birth of time and the beginning of the expansion of space.  In a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second ( 10^-34 seconds) space expanded faster than the speed of light.  The Universe doubled in size 90 times.  The Universe started as a single “point” then when at 10^-34 seconds of age it instantaneously grew to the size of a golf ball.
-
-  When this hot , dense, point reached the size of a golf ball it had already cooled off and slowed down its rate of expansion.  It kept expanding and cooling until charged particles could begin collecting into neutral particles.  One second after the expansion slowed neutron, protons, electrons, positrons, photons, and neutrinos filled the Universe.  Electrons and protons began to form neutral hydrogen.
-
-  After 3 minutes the temperature had cooled from 10^32 degrees Kelvin to 10^9 degrees Kelvin.  This was cool enough for the isotope of Deuterium to form ( a proton plus a neutron).  Deuterium combined to form helium ( 2 protons and 2 neutrons), and some Lithium ( 3 protons )
-
-  The Universe was too hot and too charged up with particles for the photons of light to escape because they were continuously scattered in all directions.  This plasma continued to cool and expand.  After 380,000 years it had cooled enough for enough charges to become neutralized that photons began to escape.  The Universe began to shine for the first time.  Before that it was a fog of dense plasma that scattered the light so intensely the photons remained contained.
-
-  Today we see this “first shine” as the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB).  The temperature had cooled to now 3,000 degrees Kelvin, cool enough to allow the Universe to become transparent emitting Gamma Rays.  The high energy Gamma Rays lost energy and became stretched as they traveled through space that was expanding over the next 13 billion years.  Today they are microwave radiation (CMB).  This radiation is like a white noise coming from all directions.  If you remember the old CRT televisions and that static white noise you saw between switching channels, that was the CMB.
-
-  This event was a flash of Gamma Rays but it was not starlight because no stars had yet formed.  It took another 400,000,000 years for clumps of hydrogen and helium gas to collect and gravitationally collapse to form the first stars.
-
-  The Universe expansion continued for the next 5 billion years.  The gravitational forces were dominate and the expansion was gradually slowing down.  But, it was also getting less and less dense as the masses spread further and further apart.  The dominance of gravity was overcome and the dominance of anti-gravity took over.  We call this anti-gravity energy , “Dark Energy”.  Today it is accelerating the expansion of the Universe at an ever increasing rate.  We do not know what it is or what causes it.  It is the biggest mystery in science today.  Literally big, it is 72% of all the energy-mass in the Universe.
-
-  Today it is expanding at 47,000 miles per hour for every million lightyears of space.  It is 9 billion years after it first started when our Solar System formed.  Today our Solar System s 4.6 billion years old and the Universe is 13.7 billion years old.
-
-  This scenario that started in the beginning can be thought of as the simultaneous appearance of space everywhere in the Universe.  It did not start as a single point in the center with expansion moving outward like a supernova explosion.  Rather space everywhere began stretching out and carrying matter along with it.
-
-  When the Universe first formed matter and energy were distrusted evenly, uniformly throughout space.  Somehow small fluctuations in the density of matter allowed gravity to create a vast web-like structure of stars separated in space.  The denser regions created more intense gravity and formed the stars that formed the galaxies.  There were clusters of galaxies interconnected by filaments of stars.  The Universe was a series of great walls of galaxies separated by great voids of empty space.
-
-  Astronomers have tried to piece all this together assuming the Universe was entirely made of ordinary matter (baryonic matter).  But, the math did not work out.  It order to match observations the ratios of matter and energy needed to explain the Universe expansion just described,  the ordinary matter and it attraction with gravity could only occupy 4.6% of the total mass-energy in the Universe.  Somehow there is 23% more matter, called Dark Matter, that we can not see.  And, somehow there is 72%  anti-gravity forces, called Dark Energy, that is causing the Universe to be expanding at an every increasing rate.
-
-  The rate of expansion is known as Hubble’s Constant, Ho.  It is currently:
-
---------------------  Ho   =   47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears.
-
-  Ho is “constant” at this point in time.  It says that for every million lightyears distance of space separating two galaxies they are receding away from each other at 47,000 miles per hour.
-
-----------------  Receding Velocity  =  Distance * Ho
-
--------------  The velocity is the speed of light.  And the inverse of Ho is the age of the Universe.
-





-------------------  1 / Ho  =  million lightyears distance  /  47,000 miles per hour.
-
-  A lightyear is 5,880,000 million miles
-
-  There are 8,760 hours in a year.
-
-------------------  1 / Ho  =  10^6  *  5.88 * 10^12 miles  /  47,000 miles *  8.76 *10^3 hours / year.
-
-  Age of the Universe is 14.7 billion years.    This is the calculation if Ho is an average velocity and constant throughout time.  It was not.  The age is calculated to be 13.7 billion years because in the beginning 5 billion years the expansion was slowing down and in the past 5 billion years the expansion is speeding up at an ever accelerating rate.  The math gets more complicated.  There is more to learn, stay tuned.
-
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Tuesday, December 2, 2014  ---
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------