The Solar System

Our Solar System and a nebulae in the bottom right corner.

The Milky Way Galaxy and its formation is similar to that of the formation of other galaxies, which I will discuss in later posts.

For now, I will directly skip to our Solar System which is located in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy.

The Solar System is nearly 4.5 billion years old. This huge complicated system of eight planets was formed by a mere nebula (a cloud of star-dust) floating through the space. Somewhere nearby, a supernova (death of a massive star resulting in a vast explosion) took place. The energy from the supernova triggered the dust-cloud and it started to recoil, spinning and collapsing on itself. As it kept recoiling further, the entire mass of the nebula contracted and gathered at its middle, forming a burning ball of gas, resulting in the birth of the Sun. This is the process of the formation of every other star in the universe.

However, this was not the end. Soon, the hot material floating around the newly born star, coalesced into a spinning disk, eventually breaking down into mountain-sized bodies called planetesimals.

These planetesimals kept revolving around the Sun due to the strong hold of its gravity, eventually colliding onto one another and coalescing into planets. The solid rock material resulted in the formation of the first four planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Whereas, the gaseous material created the gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Hence, the entire Solar System came into being in about a few hundred million years. At first the planets burned with the constant bombardments on their surfaces, however, eventually they cooled down and stabilized to become what they are today. The planet Earth was not always as beautiful as it appears today. A few hundred million years ago, it was set ablaze by the effects of its own birth. But it took another 500 million years for life to develop on this planet to what it is today.

There are billions of other ‘Solar Systems’ in the Universe. And perhaps, a billion other Earth-like life-bearing planets inhabited by much more complex and advanced species watching over us. If this isn’t interesting enough, then I don’t know what is. 

Find out more about the Solar System and the eight Planets in the next Post!

Our Place in the Universe

Yup, here you are!

The Universe is a vast abyss. I believe that it is very important to locate ourselves in this vast abyss in order to study the subject in detail.

Let’s begin with nothingness. Imagine a deep dark void, with lots of glowing celestial bodies huddled together in clusters. You float nearer to one of these clusters made up of about a thousand galaxies. This cluster is called the Virgo Super Cluster. You float into it and eventually with the decreasing distance, you notice small groups within this super cluster. One of these groups is the Local Group of galaxies. Within this group lies our spiral galaxy, the Milky Way and several others including our most immediate neighbors: Andromeda and Triangulum.

Moving further into our galaxy filled with bright stars, you finally reach our Solar System, which is located in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy.

The Solar System comprises of a star called the Sun, which is encircled by eight planets. The third planet that orbits the Sun is the only known life-bearing planet in the explored universe: the planet Earth. The planet Earth is home to you and I and billions of other species that have been ancient residents of this beautiful planet which is located in the depths of the vast Universe.

If you have begun to feel insignificant knowing you are an unimportant creature dwelling in a corner of the unfathomable universe, then you are one step ahead in the field of astronomy.