A Journey In Space
By: Turner Watzka
The Universe is Amazing
The Universe is so old it is 13.7 billion years old. The universe is also expanding outward. It will eventually collide with itself an implode. There are also tons of galaxy's in the universe including our galaxy the Milky Way. This galaxy is a spiral galaxy. It has a bulge at the center and spiral arms. The spiral arms are made up of gas, dust, and new stars that have formed in these denser regions of gas dust. So come on this trip to space with me now. It only costs $250,000 to get on the ship and $500,000 for equipment.
Look at all of these different stars!!!
Red Giant (Red Supergiant)
A star that expands and cools once it uses all of its hydrogen. Eventually, the loss of hydrogen causes the center of the star to shrink. As the center of the star shrinks, the atmosphere of the star grows very large and cools to form a red giant or a red supergiant
White Dwarf
A small hot star that is the leftover center of an older star. This star has no hydrogen left and can no longer generate energy by fusing hydrogen atoms into helium atoms.
Black Dwarf
A theoretical stellar remnant, specifically a White Dwarf that has cooled sufficiently that is no longer emits significant heat or light.
Main-Sequence Stars
In this star energy is generated in the core of the star as hydrogen atoms fuse into helium atoms. This process releases an enormous amount of energy. The size of a main-sequence star will change very little as long as the star has a continuous supply of hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium atoms.
Guaranteed to be a fun trip to explore
Supernova, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes
A supernova is a gigantic explosion in which a massive star collapses. The explosion is so powerful that it can be than an entire galaxy for several days. After a supernova occurs, the materials in the center of a supernova are squeezed together to form a new star. This new star is a Neutron Star. This is a star that has collapsed under gravity to the point at which all of its particles are neutrons. Sometimes the leftovers of a supernova are so massive that they collapse to form a Black Hole. A black hole is an object that is so massive that even light cannot escape it.
Galaxies and Quasars
As I said from before we will be exploring galaxies. I talked about spiral galaxies. There are two more. Elliptical Galaxies and Irregular galaxies. Elliptical Galaxies usually have very bright centers and very little dust and gas. They contain mostly old stars. Because there is so little free-flowing gas in this galaxy, few new stars form. Irregular galaxies are galaxies that don't fit into any other class. The large spiral galaxies may be distorting the shape of these irregular galaxies. Quasars are star-like sources of light that are extremely far away. They are among the most powerful energy sources in the universe. Some scientists think that quasars may be caused by massive black holes in the cores of some galaxies.
Clusters
We will also be exploring two different types of clusters on our trip. Globular Clusters and Open Clusters. A Globular Cluster is a group of stars that looks like a ball. There may be up to one million stars in a globular cluster. They are located in a spherical halo that surrounds spiral galaxies. An Open Cluster are groups of closely grouped stars that are usually located along the spiral disk of a galaxy. Newly formed open clusters have many bright blue stars. There may be a few hundred to a few thousand stars in an open cluster.
Nebula's
The last thing we will be exploring on our trip are two different types of nebula's. A Stellar Nebula and a Planetary Nebula. A Stellar Nebula is a place where stars are born. It is a cloud of superheated gases and other elements formed by the explosive death of a massive star. A Planetary Nebula is a kind of Emission Nebula consisting of a expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from old red giant stars late in their lives.
Picture Sources
Pic1: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef019b003e90e1970b-pi
Pic2: http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/bmendez/ay10/2000/cycle/redgiant.gif
Pic3: http://www.reasons.org/Media/Default/ImageCache/559x400-FitWidth/Images/star-white-dwarf-1.jpg
Pic4: http://factfile.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Black-Dwarf-Star-Facts1.jpg
Pic6: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef01b7c7a7b3ff970b-pi