From the Large-Scale Universe to the Milky Way
From the Large-Scale Universe to the Milky Way
Cynthia H. Garrett
SCI/151
December 12, 2011
Dr. Robert Austin
From the Large-Scale Universe to the Milky Way
The subjects discussed in this paper are modern cosmology, the Big Bang theory, the Milky Way, dark energy, and a theory of everything (TOE).
Modern Cosmology
Cosmology is the study of the cosmos. Throughout history, cultures’ rituals and beliefs were based upon their cosmologies. According to Wheeler (2011), “Today’s cosmology is a complex arrangement of theories and observations, of equations and hypotheses” (para 2).
Our modern understanding of the age and size of the universe is based on measuring distances to galaxies. In the 1929s Edwin Hubble (Hubble) discovered almost all galaxies seemed to be moving away from from Earth. This was observed as a redshift of a galaxy’s spectrum. Hubble’s law described this expansion. However, the significance of Hubble’s law goes well beyond the measurement of distance. Hubble also proved that the Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the university. “This discovery, and his subsequent discovery of universal expansion, provided the foundation upon which modern cosmology has been built” (Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit, 2010, p. 623).
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang theory explains the events that occurred at the beginning of the universe. “The Big Bang theory describes how expansion and cooling of this unimaginably intense mixture of particles and photons could have led to the present universe of stars and galaxies, and