1830 Universe

60
Chapter

31

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Universe
Universe is the limitless expanse of space around us consisting of solar (i) The gravitational pull of the Sun on the planets control their
system. star, galaxies etc.
Solar System ID motion.
(ii) There are other heavenly bodies (about 32) which revolve around
the planets called satellites (or moons) of the planets.
(iii) A planet does not emit light of its own.
(iv) A planet do not twinkle at night.
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(v) The planets are very small in size as compared to stars or Sun.
(vi) The relative positions of planets keep on changing day by day.
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(vii) Most of the planets move around the sun from west to east.
(viii) The planets are made of rocks and metals.
Solar system is a family of nine planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, (ix) The temperature of planet depends upon its distance from sun.
meteors, meteroites and dust particles orbiting around the Sun. (2) Asteroids : The small pieces of planet revolving around the sun
(1) Planets : Nine planets revolving around the sun in elliptical orbits. In between orbits of Mars and Jupiter are called Asteroids.
order of increasing distance from Sun, these are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, (i) Astronomers have identified about 2000 asteroids ranging from the
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. largest 770 km diameter to bodies 1.5 km in diameter.
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Table 31.1 : Some information about planets

Planet Radius Mean distance from sun Mass as compared to Time of revolution Time taken to complete one rotation Number of
R  103 km  106 km earth around the sun around its own axis satellites
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Mercury 2.4 57.9 0.055 88 days 59 days —

Venus 6.1 108.2 0.815 225 days 243 days —
Earth 6.3 149.6 1 1 Year 23 hrs. 56 min. 1
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Mars 3.4 227.9 0.108 1.9 Year 24 hrs. 27 min 2

Jupiter 71.4 778.3 317.9 11.8 Year 9 hrs. 50 min 14
Saturn 60.0 1427 95.2 29.5 Year 10 hrs. 14 min 10 + Ring
Uranus 23.4 2870 14.6 85 Year 10 hrs. 49 min 5 + Ring
Neptune 22.3 4594 17.2 165 Year 15 hrs. 2
Pluto 3.2 5900 0.002 248 Year 6.39 days —

(ii) The largest asteroids are called Ceres. (3) Comets : These are composed of rock like materials surrounded by
(iii) The largest asteroid complete one revolution around the sun in large masses of easily vaporisable substances like, ice, water, ammonia and
4.6 years. methane.
(i) They revolve around the Sun in highly elliptical orbits.
 Universe 1833
(ii) Their time period of revolution around the Sun is very large. maximum when earth and sun subtend an angle 90° at the planet. From
(iii) Comets appear to be having a bright head and a long tail while figure,
passing close to the Sun and when away from sun generally they show no
tail. PS r
sin   ps
(iv) The tail of comet is formed when the comet is passing close to the ES 1 AU
Sun and the heat of Sun exerts a pressure on the material which gets
evaporated due to heat of Sun. where 1 AU = 1.496  10 m 11

(v) Hally comet was seen in early 1986 and is expected to be seen PE r
Thus sin  rps , similarly cos    pe  rpe  cos 
again in 2062. ES 1 AU
(4) Meteors and meteorites : Meteors are the smaller pieces of stones (3) Kepler's law : According to Kepler's law the square of time period
and metals which may be produced due to the breaking up of comets while of planet around sun is proportional to cube of semi-major axis of the orbit
approaching the Sun. When they reach earth's atmosphere due to friction

60
they start buring. They are also called shooting stars. a3
of planet around sun i.e.  constant , if a1 and a2 are semi-major
Sometimes, the large pieces of stones (acting as meteors) do not burn T2
completely and reach the surface of the earth as stony, iron balls resulting axes of planets 1 and 2 and T and T their respective periods of revolution,
1 2

in crators on the earth surface. These are called meteorites. then

2/3
Measurement of Size of Planet a13 a3 T 

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2
 22 or a2   2  a1
We can measure the size of a planet by measuring the angle T1 T2  T1 
subtended by its diameter AB at a
For circular orbits a and a represent the radii of orbits.
point on the earth. This angle is d 1 2

A B
called angular diameter of planet. If (4) Spectroscopic method : In this method, photograph of two
d denotes diameter of planet and D different planets P and P are taken on similar photographic plates from one
1 2

place of the earth. Let I and I be the intensities of the images of these two
its distance from the earth

or
 ~–

d ~– D
d
D


Fig. 31.1
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ID I1 R 22

I2 R12
1 2

planets. If R and R be the distances of these planets from the earth then
1 2

( intensity at a point is inversely proportional to the square of

the distance)
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Earth
Measurement of Fig. 31.1 Stars
Distance of Planet From
the Earth
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(1) Parallax method : The planet O is observed from two points P and 1

P on the surface of the earth. The distance between these two points, PP =
2 1 2

b, is called basis. The angle

subtended by planet at these two O
points is called parallax angle or
parallactic angle 
A firey massive luminous heavenly body is called a star.
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b D D
From figure  ~– (1) Some features
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(i) Stars twinkle at night.
b P1 P2 (ii) Stars are countless in number ; about 10 in a universe.
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or D ~–
22

 Earth
(iii) Stars are very big in size but they appear small because they are
(2) Copernicus method : The b very far off.
inferior planets (Mercury and (iv) The relative positions of stars do not change day by day.
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Fig. 31.2
Venus) have nearly circular orbits.
Angle between directions of observation from earth to sun and earth to (v) Stars appear to be moving from west to east.
planet is called planet's elongation. (vi) The temperature of stars is very high.
res  The distance of earth from Sun, rps  The distance of planet (vii) The Sun is the nearest star to the earth. Its light reaches the
earth in 8.3 minutes.
from Sun and rpe  The distance of planet from Earth
(viii) After Sun the next nearest star to earth is Alpha centuri. Its
The rps and res are fixed distances as distance is 4.3 light year from earth.
orbits have been assumed to be circular. (ix) Other bright stars in the sky are known as Spica (Chitra),
During orbital motion of the planet the Arcturus (Swati), Polaris (Dhruva), Sirius (Vydha), Canopus (Agasti) etc.
distance rpe changes. Planet's elongation is S (x) The temperature of a star is estimated from the colour of its light
rps received on earth. The blue coloured star is at higher temperature than red
90° res = 1AU coloured star.
P
rpe 

E
Fig. 31.3
 1834 Universe
(2) Constellation : Many of the stars appear to be bunched together in (a) White dwarf : When the original mass of the star is less than 2 M s

groups. These groups are called constellations. (M being solar mass), the core of the star tends to die as White dwarf. It
s

(i) The Great-bear (Saptarishi), Taurus (Vrishabha) Aries (Mesha) etc. was theoretically discovered by S. Chandrasekhar in1930 and is known as
are the other constellations near the north and south celestial poles. Chandrasekhar limit. As the core keeps on emitting heat and light for
millions of year, it colour changes from white to yellow, then to red finally it
(ii) According to modern astronomy there are 88 constellations in the becomes black. Now this becomes invisible for ever.
sky.
(c) Neutron star : When the original mass of the star is lies between
(3) Brightness of star : Brightness of stars is represented through 2M and 5 M the core of the star tends to finish up as neutron star. In such
s s'

system of magnitudes. Magnitude of star is the measure of its brightness a case, when super nova explosion occurs, the core of the star is
when observed from earth. compressed and electrons and protons combine to form neutrons. Due to
(i) Hipporacus, a Greek astronomer divided the stars (visible with this reason, this is called as neutron star. It is found to have a radius of
about 10 km.

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naked eye) into six magnitude classes. Brightness goes on decreasing as the
magnitude increases. A first magnitude star is about 100 times as bright as a (7) Black hole : When the original mass of the star is more than 5 M , s

sixth magnitude star. Decrease in magnitude number by one increases then on supernova explosion, the core continues suffering compression
brightness by ratio 1001 / 5  2.5119. In general indefinitely due to recoil. This gives rise to a black hole. The mass of the
black hole is greater than the mass of the Sun but its size is very small. Due
The brightness of star in n th magnitude class to this fact, the gravitational pull of black hole is very strong. This is the
 (2.512)m

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The brightness of star in (n  m )th magnitude class reason that the photon of radiation emitted by it cannot escape from its
surface. On the other hand, a photon approaching a black hole is swallowed
(ii) If two stars have magnitudes m and m (m > m ) and brightness l
1 2 2 1 1
by it. Hence it is called a black hole.
l
and l (l < l ), then 1  100(m 2 m1 ) / 5 The black hole is said to have been formed if the star of mass M has
l2
2 2 1

2GM
Taking logarithm to base 10 of both sides, we get contracted within a radius r which is given by r 

(m 2  m1 )   2 .5 log
l2
l1
(iii) For a star of zero magnitude m = 0, l = l , m = m and l = l.
1 1 0 2 2
ID Sun

earth.
c2

The Sun called the centre of the solar system, is a star nearest to the
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l0 (1) Properties of the Sun
 m  2 .5 log
l
(i) It's average distance from earth is 1.49  10 km = 1 AU
8

(iv) The star vega is of zero magnitude and of brightness

(ii) It's mass is 1.99  10 kg
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l0  2.52  10 8 W / m 2 .
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(iii) It's mean diameter is 1.392  10 km6

(v) A star having negative magnitude is brighter; e.g., a star having

magnitude – 5 will be 100 times more bright than a star of zero magnitude. (iv) The density of the Sun varies from 10 kg/m at the surface to 10
–4 3 4

(4) Absolute luminosity : The total energy radiated into space per kg/m at the centre. It's mean density is 1410 kg m .
3 –3

second from the surface of a star is called absolute luminosity of the star. (v) The pressure at the centre of the Sun is about 2  10 N/m . 6 2

The absolute luminosity of the Sun is  3.9  10 J / sec. 26

(vi) Light takes 8 minute to reach earth from the Sun.
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(5) Birth of a star : Star dust and gases present in interstellar space (vii) 70% of Sun's mass is H , 28% He and 2% Lithium or Uranium.
come closer together with a gravitational force in the form of a cloud. 2

(viii) The Sun is also called Yellow Dwarf.

(i) When the cloud is quite big, due to compression cloud heats up
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and starts radiating (2) Structure of Sun : The Sun structure consist of four parts :
(ii) At this temperature, fusion of hydrogen atom into helium atom Photosphere (P), Reversing layer (R), Chromosphere (CH) and Corona (C).
takes place and a star is said to have come into existence.
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(iii) This process result in the release of energy, which keeps the star
shining for millions of years.
(6) Death of a star : When large number of hydrogen atoms of a star
P
are converted into He, the core of star begins to contract and other layers R CH
C
begin to expand. At this stage star appears red, the stage is called Red
Giant.
(i) Now a violet explosion occurs in star. This is called nova or super (3) Solar activity : The surface feature of the Sun are called Solar
nova explosion. activity. This can be classified as follows
Fig. 31.4
(ii) Due to explosion, the outer layers are thrown back into interstellar (i) Sun spots : These are dark spots on the surface of sun associated
leaving behind the core of the star. This is known as death of the star. with strong magnetic fields. The sun spots move across Sun slowly, so there
The core of the star may further end up into one of the following numbers vary over a cycle of 11 year called Sun spot cycle. After every eleven
three dead bodies (stellar dead materials) : year activity of sun spots tends to be maximum. Movements of sun spots
(a) White dwarf (b) Neutron star (c) Black hole
 Universe 1835
have revealed the time period of rotation of sun on its own axis as about 25 Usually, the radius of star is expressed in terms of solar radius
days.  E  T2
1/2
(Rs  6.95  10 8 m). Thus star radius    solar
(ii) Faculae : These are bright patches near Sun spots.  4  6 .95  10 8
(iii) Granules : Small granules form a covering over photosphere. radius.
(iv) Flares : Sudden increase in magnetic activity is called flare. During  The radii of most of the stars lie in the range 0.02 to 220 solar
radii.
these flares Sun emits streams of protons, -particles and electrons.
(2) Stellar masses : Let M and M be the masses of two stars revolving
1 2

(v) Spicules : Bright spikes emerging from chromosphere are termed about their common centre of mass in circular orbits of radii r and r 1 2

spicules. Spicules are source of large number of charged particles into the respectively such that r1  r2  r. Now
corona.
(vi) Prominences : Surface of photosphere is covered by rising clouds 4 2 r 3
M1  M 2   2 ......(i)

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called prominences. G T
(vii) Filaments : These are thin markings on the photosphere. where T is common period of revolution.
(4) Solar constant (S) : Energy falling in one second on the unit area If a planet of mass M moves round the Sun of mass M , then the mass
1 S

of the earth's surface held normal to Sun's rays is called solar constant. It is M can be neglected in comparison with M because M S  M1 . Then
1 S

T 4 R 2

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equation (i) can be written as
given by S   1 .388  10 3 W / m 2
r2
4 2 r 3
where  = Stefan's constant MS   2 .....(ii)
G T
= 5.68  10 S.I. unit
–8

r3
Earth As M is constant, it implies that = constant
T = Surface temperature of Sun S S

T2
R = Radius of Sun
r = Radius of Earth's orbit

Fig. 31.5
r
ID which is Kepler's third law.
In binary system, r = 1 AU, T = 1 year and M1  M 2  1 solar mass.
Hence equation (i) gives G  4 2
(5) Solar Luminosity (L ) : It is defined as the amount of energy
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s

r3
emitted by the Sun per second in all directions.  M1  M 2  ..... (iii)
T2
Ls  (4r 2 )S  3.9  10 26 W
Equation (iii) can be used to find the masses of two stars in binary
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(6) Temperature of Sun (T) : The surface temperature of the Sun is system.

r
1/2
S 
1/4 (3) Spectra of stars : The different stars are of different colours and
given by T      the spectrum of a star is related to its colour, There are seven classes of
R  
stellar spectra denoted by letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M. Our sun belongs to
(7) Mass of the Sun (M) : Let M be the mass of sun and m be the G class star.
mass of a planet moving around it, then as gravitational force of attraction Table 31.2 : Spectrum of stars
between them supplies the necessary centripetal force
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Spectra Colour Surface temp Description of absorption

GMm mv 2 v 2r type (K) spectra
F   Mass of Sun M 
r2 r G O Dark blue 3  104 Ionized helium lines
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2
 2  to 4  104
r3  
r r r
2 2 3 2
4 r
2 3
 
T  B Blue 1.s5  104 Lines of neutral helium
  
G G G GT 2
to 2.3  104
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where G = 6.67  10 Nm kg and r is distance between the sun and

–11 2 –2

planet. T period of revolution of planet around the sun. A White 9.5  103 Lines of H2

If we consider the planet and its satellite, mass of the planet can to 1.1  104
similarly be found F Green 6.5  103 Lines of H2 and ionised metals
Stellar Radii, Mass and Spectra to 7.5  103
(1) Stellar radii : The total energy radiated by the star per second is G Yellow 5800 Lines of ionised Ca, Fe , C
given by E  T 4  Surface area of the star K Orange 4500 Bands due to hydrocarbons
1/2 M Red 3500 Bands of Titanium oxide
 E 
 E  T 4  4R 2  Radius of star (R)    T2
 4 
These relationship between the colour of a star and its temperature is
expressed by Wien's displacement law. According to this law
 1836 Universe
1 b Akash Ganga because the light from the various stars together gives the
m  or m T  b or T  ; where b = 2.89  10 mK. –3

impression of a stream of milk flowing across the sky.

T m
Milky way is a spiral galaxy. Its mass is 150 solar masses
So those stars which appear blue (minimum wavelength) such as class
O and B, are very hot and which appear red (maximum wavelength) such as (i.e. 3  10 kg).
41

Diameter of galactic disc

class M are less hot. (5000 LY)
Galaxies
S C

Sun
Galactice centre
2.7  10 LY
4

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105 LY
Fig. 31.6
Milky way contains 150 billions sun like stars.
Milky way contains clouds of dust and gases.
A large group of stars is called Galaxy. Millions of galaxies are therein

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Pulsars
the sky. Each galaxy contains about 10 stars.
11

As the age of a star increases, its hydrogen content goes on decreasing.

The Sun and the planets of the solar system belong to the galaxy, Ultimately, the star explodes as a supernova, in the universe. After explosion
called Milky way (Akash Ganga). of a supernova, a variable star is born. It is not an ordinary star. It is the
(1) Types of galaxies : There are two types of galaxies remaining part of a supernova. The variable star is called a pulsar. A pulsar
emits electromagnetic waves in pulses and not continuously. The pulses are
(i) Normal galaxies, and (ii) Radio-galaxies.
of very short duration (0.033 s to 0.088 s). The pulses may lie either in
(i) Normal galaxies : Besides milky way, there are billions of other
galaxies in the universe. All these galaxies are called normal galaxies. There
are three types of normal galaxies. (a) Elliptical galaxies (18%), (ii) Spiral
galaxies (80%), and (iii) Irregular galaxies (2%).
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(a) Elliptical galaxies : The galaxies which look like the flat elliptical
visible region or in radio region. About 50 pulsars have been detected, two
in visible region and others in radio region. It is expected that there are
about 100 pulsars in the universe.
Evolution of the Universe
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discs are called elliptical galaxies. These generally consist of red giants, white Important theories about the origin and evolution of universe are as
dwarfs etc. i.e., those stars which are nearing their ends. follows.
(b) Spiral galaxies : The galaxies have lens-shaped central portion (1) Big Bang theory : The whole of the matter of the universe was
concentrated in a very dense and hot fire ball about 20 billion years ago. An
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surrounded by a flat disc. It has two spiral arms which spiral around the
explosion occurred. The matter was broken into pieces in the form of stars
central portion. and galaxies. The faster moving galaxies have gone farther than the slower
Example : Milky way and Andromeda. ones. A galaxy situated at 20 billion light years is the boundary of the
(c) Irregular galaxies : These have no specific form of their own. universe.
Irregular galaxies are youngest normal galaxies and are middle aged and (2) Expanding universe theory : All the galaxies would continue to
elliptical galaxies are quite old galaxies. move away from the Earth and we will have an empty universe because on
(2) Radio galaxies : The galaxies which emit electromagnetic radiations in account of continuous expansion of the universe, more and more galaxies
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will go beyond the boundary of the universe and will be lost.

the radio frequency are called radio galaxies. These have been classified as (i)
Ordinary radio galaxies (ii) Quasars. The motions of galaxies relative to the earth can be measured by
observing the shifts in the wavelengths of their spectra. For distant galaxies
(i) Ordinary radio galaxies : A normal optical galaxy (O) which has two these shifts are always toward longer wavelength, so they appear to be
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strong radio sources (R and R ) occurring symmetrically on either side of it,

1 2 receding from us and from each other. Astronomers first assumed that
is called an ordinary radio galaxy. It appears like two ears on the two sides these were Doppler shifts and used a relation between the wavelength  of 0

of the face of a person. The radio power output lies in the range 10 to 1030 38

light measured now from a source receding at speed v and the wavelength
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watt.  measured in the rest frame of the source when it was emitted.
s

(ii) Quasars : Quasars are quasi-stellar radio sources. They are star like
c v
in structure and they emit powerful radio waves. They have a radio output 0  S
of 10 to 10 watt. Quasars are farthest objects known. They are millions of
37 38
c v
light years away from Earth. These seem to be lying at the limit of the
v
universe. They are moving away from Earth with a velocity of about 0.9 For v << c, Red shift (or Doppler's shift)   S
times the velocity of light. Their size is much smaller. It is of the order of c
light days. They form very dense galaxies. The density is also very large and (3) Pulsating universe theory : As the galaxies move away, the
their gravitational field is also very high. The cause of tremendous energy of expansion of the galaxies would be stopped by the gravitational pull. The
the quasars is unknown. About 150 quasars have been detected so far. galaxies would come so close that again a new explosion would take place.
(3) Milky way (Akash Ganga) : It is the name of the galaxy to which The same sequence will be repeated. Thus, we have alternate expansion and
our earth belongs. The milky way is the glowing belt of the sky formed by contraction of the universe giving rise to a pulsating universe. This takes
the combined light of a very large number of stars. It is called milky way or place after every 80 billion years.
 Universe 1837
(4) Steady state theory : As the farthest galaxies speed away from each
 On a clear night 5000 stars can be observed with naked eye.
other, new galaxies are born to take their places. The total number of
galaxies in the universe remains constant.  Closet star is alpha centuri (after the Sun) which is 4.3 light years
away.
It is certain that : (i) The age of the universe is about 20 to 30 billion
years. (ii) The most distant galaxy is situated at a distance of two billion  Astronomy is branch of science which deals with the study of
light years away from the Earth. (iii) This galaxy is receding away from the universe.
Earth with a velocity 0.3 times that of light. (iv) The universe will live for
about 100 million years more. Thus, the universe is quite young at present.
 Study of heavenly bodies is based upon visible light ( ranging
from 4000 Å to 8000 Å) and radio waves ( ranging from 1 mm to 20
Hubble's law m).
 Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer, divided naked eye stars into six
magnitude classes, on the basis of their brightness. The brightest stars

60
were placed in the first magnitude class. Faintest visible stars were put
in the sixth magnitude class.
 A comet does not have any tail when it is far from the Sun.
 Mercury
(i) Smallest planet (ii) Closest to the Sun

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(iii) Fastest (iv) No atmosphere.
(1) The speed of recession v of a galaxy is proportional to it's distance  Cygnus is a group of five stars. Which forms a cross like a swan.
r from us i.e. v  r  v = Hr this relation is called Hubble's law.
 The clouds of dusty gas are called nebulae.
(2) Here H = An experimental quantity, called Hubble’s constant. It's
value is 19.3 mm/sec for each light year.
(3) Determining H has been a key goal of the Hubble’s space
telescope.

(4) The quantity

1
H
has the dimensions of time.
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(5) This time is called Hubble's times, which is an estimate of the
order of magnitude of time that has elapsed since the Big Bange, and thus
of the age of universe.
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20
v (103 km/sec)

15
10 Slope = H

5
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100 200 300 r

(Mega Parsecs)
Fig. 31.7
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 The name black hole is given because it's gravity is so high that it
prevents even light to radiate into space.
 Visible light is restricted from entering a telescope by dust particles
in universe. Therefore range of a telescope is limited. Observation made in
visible range are referred to as optical astronomy. Whereas observations
made in radio range is called Radio-Astronomy.
 Albedo : The presence of atmosphere, clouds, etc. is acknowledged
by a parameter known as albedo. It is the ratio of energy reflected by a
planet to that incident on it. Clouds being good reflectors of light, they
considerably increase the reflecting power of the planet and hence it's
albedo is large. Venus has an albedo of 85% (highest).
 Mercury, Pluto and Venus do not have any satellites.