Space physics
Eng. Ahmed Serry
Motion of the Moon
Motion of the Comet
Motion of the Earth
The Universe Orbital speed
Motion in the universe
The Universe
the Universe is a large collection of billions of galaxies.
The Galaxy
Galaxy is a large collection of billions of stars
The Sun is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which contains about 200 billion stars.
The Star
A star is a body which emits energy powered by nuclear fusion.
The Solar System
The Solar System consists of:
1. One star (the Sun)
2. And eight planets moving around it in
approximately circular orbits .
3. It also includes dwarf planets (Pluto) and
asteroids which orbit the Sun,
4. Moons that orbit many of the planets
5. and smaller Solar System bodies such as
comets and natural satellites.
Motion of the Earth
The Earth is the third planet from the Sun and travels in a nearly circular orbit controlled by the
large gravitational attraction exerted by the Sun.
Day and night
Day and night and the rising and setting of the Sun can be explained by the rotation of the Earth
on its axis.
Making one complete revolution every 24 hours.
This creates day for the half of the Earth’s surface facing the Sun and night for the other half, facing away
from the Sun
The seasons
• The repeating pattern of spring, summer, autumn and winter arises from
1. the motion of the Earth around the Sun
once in approximately 365 days (i.e. in one year).
Motion of the Moon
The moon is a satellite of the Earth and travels round it in an approximately circular orbit
approximately once a month at an average distance away of about 400 000 km.
Gravitational field strength of a planet
1. Newton proposed that all objects in the Universe having mass attract each other with a force
called gravitational force.
2. The greater the mass of each object and the smaller their distance apart (more dense) the
greater is the force.
3. For a planet the gravitational field strength at its surface depends on its mass, and is nearly
uniform across its surface.
4. The gravitational force decreases as the distance from the sun increases.
The planets motion around sun
• To keep a body moving in a circular path requires a
gravitational force acting towards the centre of the circle.
• In the case of the planets orbiting the Sun in near circular
paths, it is the force of gravity between the Sun and the
planet that provides the necessary centripetal force.
The moon & satellite motion around earth
• The Moon is kept in a circular orbit around the Earth by the force of gravity between it and the
Earth.
The planets and planetary motion
• The strength of the Sun’s gravitational field decreases with distance so the further a planet is away from
the Sun, the weaker the gravitational force;
• this results in a lower orbital speed and longer orbital time.
F
a
v
t
The comet
Comets consist of dust embedded in ice called ‘dirty snowballs’.
• they orbit the Sun in highly elliptical orbits. • approximately circular paths of planets & moon
The comet speed
• In the case of a comet with a large elliptical orbit,
• its speed increases as it approaches the Sun and decreases as it moves further away ?
Because Energy is conserved:
- Approaching the Sun its GPE transferred into KE
Low speed
- Moving away from the Sun its kinetic energy
High speed
transferred into Gravitational potential energy.
Planet & comet orbits
Item Planet Comet
Orbit shape Circular Elliptical
Orbit speed/force Constant Variant
Orbit path/radius Small Large
Orbit time Short Long
Orbit plane Horizontal tilted
Orbit around Both orbit the Sun
Orbital speed
Average speed = total distance/total time.
• So, for the Moon, moving in a circular orbit around the Earth with average orbital speed v,
1. where r is the radius of the orbit,
2. and T is the orbital period (the time for one orbit).
Take care of units
Summary
Thank You
evolution of stars with a
mass larger than the Sun
evolution of stars of
similar mass to the Sun Star temperature and colour
Stellar evolution Hertzsprung–Russell
diagram
Stellar evolution
Life cycle of a star
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the time.
1. Nebula
1. Nebula: is consisting of clouds of dust and hydrogen gas collapse under the force of
gravitational attraction
2. Protostar
2. As the cloud collapses, Protostar is formed as gravitational potential energy is transferred to kinetic
energy so its core temperature rises;
3. Main sequence
3. When the core is hot enough, hydrogen nuclear fusion into helium starts ; and a star is born.
Nuclear reactions in stars
The Sun is a medium-sized star which consists mainly of hydrogen and helium.
1. Stars are powered by nuclear fusion.
2. Stable stars such as our Sun are hot and dense enough in their centre (core) for nuclear fusion of
hydrogen into helium to occur.
4. Red giant _ low mass stars
The further stages in the life cycle of a star depend on its mass (low mass)
4. When the (Hydrogen nuclear fusion stop) , star becomes unstable.
the core collapses inward and a outer layers expansion; the star turns into a red giant.
Nuclear fusion of helium into carbon occur
5. White dwarf _ low mass stars
5. For stars with a mass up to about eight times that of our Sun, when the helium fusion stops, the
core collapses under its own gravity, and outer layers expel
6. Black dwarf _ low mass stars
5. The white dwarf has a lifetime of about a billion years and eventually cools into a cold black
dwarf consisting mainly of carbon. This will be the fate of our Sun.
4. Red super giant _ High mass stars
The further stages in the life cycle of a star depend on its mass
4. Stars with a mass greater than about eight times that of our Sun ,
The core then collapses into a red supergiant and nuclear fusion of helium into carbon occurs.
5. Supernova _ High mass stars
5. Helium Nuclear fusion then stops and the energy of the star is released in a supernova explosion.
In the explosion there is a huge increase in the star’s brightness and the temperature becomes high
enough for fusion of nuclei into many elements heavier than iron to occur.
6. neutron star _ High mass stars
5. The centre of the supernova collapses to a very dense neutron star,
7. Black hole _ High mass stars
6. If the remnant at the centre of the supernova has such a large density that its gravitational field is
very strong that stops anything escaping, even light; this is a black hole.
Stars colour
1. Stars vary in age, size, mass, surface temperature, colour and brightness.
2. Colour depends on surface temperature.
3. Brightness depends on the size of the star
4. Stars that are blue or white are hotter and brighter than those that are yellow or.red.
Absolute magnitude
How bright a star appears to us depends on two things;
1. first its size,
2. and secondly how far the star is away from us
the candle appears brighter at a closer distance
illustrates how distance affects the
apparent brightness of a source.
Absolute magnitude
To have a fair comparison between stars brightness, they must be placed at the same distance
away from us.
A measure of the brightness of the star from a standard distance
The lower the absolute magnitude, the brighter the star.
-5 is brighter than +5
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
The y-axis of the HR diagram shows the absolute magnitude of a star and its brightness.
The x-axis of the HR diagram shows the star’s temperature and colour.
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
• At A, the Sun begins to condense from a
cold cloud of gas.
• At B, the cloud of gas has collapsed to be a
main sequence star. Its life in this phase is about 10 billion years.
Brighter
• At C, after the main sequence phase, the
Sun will expand into a giant phase.
• At D, the Sun collapses to be a white dwarf
after fusion reactions cease in its core.
The Sun will cool down over billions of years,
eventually becoming a black dwarf. Hotter
Blue White Yellow Red
Summary
The expanding Universe –
redshift of galaxies
Cosmic Microwave
Evidences of the Big background radiation
Bang theory
The Big Bang theory Velocity of a galaxy
The Big Bang theory
The Universe
the Universe is made up of billions of galaxies, the Milky Way being just one.
The Milky Way galaxy contains 800 billion or more stars.
The Big Bang theory
The most widely accepted theory for the origin of our Universe is the Big Bang theory that proposes :
1. the Universe started about 14 billion years ago from one single dense hot point
2. A huge explosion happened – the Big Bang
3. Since that explosion, Universe has been moving outwards and expanding & cool down.
Evidences that supports the Big Bang theory
In developing a theory about the origin of the Universe, two evidences about galaxies have to be
taken into account:
1. Red-shift of galaxies
2. Cosmic microwave background radiation - CMBR
The Doppler effect
The same effect is shown by light
If the source approaches us, waves are crowded into a
If the source moves away, the wavelength
smaller space and their wavelength seems shorter and
seems longer, their frequency lower
their frequency higher.
The Doppler effect
Moving away
Moving toward
When the light source is receding, the wavelength seems longer, that is the light is shifted toward red
The expanding Universe – redshift of galaxies
An increase in the observed wavelength of light emitted from moving away galaxy
Why a redshift of galaxies is an evidence?
1. The further away a galaxy is from us, the greater is this redshift
2. the greater the red-shift, the faster the galaxy is moving away
3. Speed of galaxies (is directly proportional to) distance
4. red-shift indicates that galaxies are moving away from each other
5. The redshift in the light provides evidence that the Universe is expanding from a single point
The expanding Universe – redshift of galaxies
From the size of the redshift of starlight, the speed of recession of the galaxy can be calculated;
The expanding Universe – redshift of galaxies
Cosmic Microwave background radiation (CMBR)
The Big Bang produced radiation energy which still exists in the universe today in the form of
cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)
A radiation with a specific frequency appears the same in all directions
Microwave background radiation (CMBR)
The existence of the cosmic background radiation provides strong evidence in support of the Big Bang theory
1. Since the Big Bang, the Universe has continued to expand,
2. Resulting in a redshift of the cosmic background radiation into the microwave region
3. CMBR appears to be the same in all directions
4. Which implies the Universe start from single point
5. Universe was hotter long ago and cool down during expansion
Summary
