planets, stars and life

The origin of the Universe is explained using the most common explanation of the Universe's origin, e.g. the Big Bang Theory, which is based around a celestial cataclysm in all human history. When I watched the documentary Particle Fever (Levinson, 2013), I saw that all other galaxies were moving away from the Earth Galaxy at a significantly high pace, as if shot by an archaic nuclear force, giving rise to the Theory. The proponents of the Big Bang Theory suggest that between 10 billion to 20 billion years ago, a monolithic blast allowed all matter, space, time, and energy in the Universe to form from some antediluvian and unknown energy type. All the aspects observed on Earth obviously emerged after the formation of the Universe. The paper sets to critique and challenge most of the generally held beliefs about the various concepts on the Cosmos, with substantial support from the things I have learned in high school, college, documentaries about the Universe, daily activities, as well as movies. There are various concepts presented in the different course topics that I will attempt to challenge, and as well give credit where I tend to agree with the content of the topics.

Key words: Universe, Big Bang Theory, star, planet, life, Earth, Sun, Moon, Mars, Cosmos.





Stars, Planet and Life

The Origin of the Universe

As I watched Particle Fever documentary (Levinson, 2013), I learnt that after the instantaneous moment (a trillion-trillionth of a second) after the Big Bang Theory, there was an expansion of the Universe in an incomprehensible speed from its small size origin to astronomical scope. As explained by Seeds and Backman (Seeds & Backman, 1999), the expansion has continued over the billion of years, even though it has been more slowly.

Despite the popularity of the Theory, I tend to question the origin of the Big Bang Theory itself. It is expected that since Earth was desolate and formless as has been ascertained by scientists, then nothing could have happened out of nowhere, for instance, the explosion that consequently caused the expansion. As I have learned in my high school and college physics, it is impossible to create or destroy energy or matter, as per the third law of thermodynamics.

Therefore, I tend to challenge the Big Bang Theory in that it suggests that the Universe started out of nothing. In addition to the origin of the Universe as explained by the Big Bang Theory, I tend to wonder how scientists remain sure exactly how the Universe evolved after the explosion. Besides, I still question the fact held by many i.e., as time passed and the available matter cooled, there was the formation of more varying kinds of matter that eventually cooled to form the stars and galaxies that are observed in the current Universe.

The Birth and Death of Stars

When I watched the documentary titled The Universe: The Birth and Death of Stars uploaded by the Discovery Channel (Discovery Channel, 2016), I learnt that it is an undisputable fact that the Milky Way Galaxy is made up of several hundred billion stars that are of all sizes, ages, as well as masses. The Sun for instance, according to Seeds and Backman (Seeds & Backman, 1999), is an example of a typical star that radiates small amounts of X-rays over and over again and larger fragments of X-ray whenever there is a solar flare.

According to astronomers, stars begin to form as a dense or giant cloud of gas and dust and later move through their normal life as gas balls that are heated by thermonuclear reactions in their centers (cores). The documentary also helped me understand that Hydrogen atoms drop with increasing energy and speed toward the cloud center under the speed or force of the gravity of the stars involved. The rise in energy causes a considerable heating of the gas, and the process continues for many years (millions of years) leading to a spike in temperature to about 20 million degrees Fahrenheit. Such high temperatures cause the hydrogen within the star to combust in continuous nuclear reactions (Discovery Channel, 2016). As the reactions start, the stars are born. On the other side, the documentary helped me to clearly understand that the death of the star is reached when it exhausts its hydrogen supply as this makes its life come to an end. Such continued exhaustion leads to a collapse of the Star under the force of its own weight.

In as much as the science behind the birth and death of the Star is complicated, I concur that it is considerably factual in that it spells out that the heavenly bodies arise from somewhere. I tend to agree with the process since it clearly shows that the formation of stars starts from a certain point. I have also learnt that the heating of the ball of gas is in one way or another proving that thermonuclear reactions are capable of bringing in distinguishable changes in stars. Besides, the fact that a star’s death depends on its mass provides proof that the mass dictates if a star will evolve as a black hole, white dwarf, or even a neutron (Seeds & Backman, 1999).

Properties of the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Venus

In high school astronomy, I learnt that the third planet from the Sun, Earth, is endowed with numerous properties. According to Earth bound and spacecraft observations, Earth lies within the “habitable zone” of the solar system, and it is at 92.957.130 miles, hence, its uniqueness within the Solar System (Seeds & Backman, 1999). Earth is 7.926 miles in diameter around the equator and its circumference is 24,902 miles. Among the surface properties of Earth is that it has 71% water, which is essentially for life. The liquid is also leads to the increased erosion observed on the land masses of Earth (Seeds & Backman, 1999). The age of a Planet on Earth is believed to be approximately 4.6 billion years, even though the oldest rocks are known to be 4 billion years old. Other than the astronomy book by Seeds and Backman (Seeds & Backman, 1999), I have also learnt the above properties through watching discovery documentaries, particularly Particle Fever (Levinson, 2013).

The Moon is the second brightest after the Sun which is found in the sky. I have gained enlightenment from astronomy classes in college that the Moon revolves around Earth once in every month, and in the process, there is an observed change in angle between Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Another property of the Moon is that the gravitational forces between it and Earth cause various interesting effects i.e. tides.

I have learned that the Moon has no atmosphere even though there has been evidence suggesting the possibility of water ice in some of the deep craters adjacent to the South Pole of the Moon, and which are permanently shaded. Also, the Moon has no global magnetic field, but it is worth noting that some surface rocks found in it show ruminant magnetism (Discovery Channel, 2016). With such evidence, there is an indication that at some point in the Moon’s early history, there probably was a global magnetic field. According to the information I have gained in the course of my astronomy classes, from high school as well as in college, I generally agree with the above information. The course has taught me various aspects of the properties of the Moon and Earth, which all appear to be factual in my understanding.

There are various properties of Mars that I have learnt from astronomy books in high school and college. Mars is about half the Earth’s diameter, it is less dense than Earth (has 15% of the volume of Earth and 11 % of the Mass) (Seeds & Backman, 1999). The surface of Mars has a red-orange appearance which is due to accumulation of hematite/iron III oxide (rust). The planet is also observed to look like butterscotch. Other surface colors of the planet are golden, greenish, tan, and brown, which are all determined by the available minerals.

Venus, on the other side, has similar size, density, mass, composition as well as distance from the Sun with Earth, and it is worth noting that the similarities end at that point (Seeds & Backman, 1999). Venus is covered by a thick atmosphere that is quickly spinning, and as a result, there is the creation of a scorched world whose temperatures are extremely hot (can melt lead), and also have a surface pressure that is 90 times that of Earth.

The atmosphere of Venus is mainly made up of carbon dioxide as well as some clouds or drops of sulfuric acid, making the planet toxic. Therefore, the planet is uninhabitable by living things. Since the spacecraft used to observe the above bodies of the solar system have high accuracy, I tend to concur with the above knowledge. I have learned much of the information in high school and also in college. Besides, I watched various YouTube documentaries such as The Mysteries of Venus and Alien Worlds Beyond our Solar System (Full Documentary HD, 2015) where the properties of the various bodies in the universe are explored.

The Origin and History of Life on the Earth

Astronomists believe that the Earth’s age is more than 4.5 billion years, and the zircon crystals are its ancient materials (4.3 billion-year-old). The earliest times of the planet saw geological violence, and Earth went through repeated bombardment from meteorites. After the formation of the continents, they have continuously rubbed off each other, and the situation has changed over time. Single-celled prokaryotic cells i.e. bacteria are considered the first life on Earth (about 3.8 billion years ago). Then, after more than a billion years, there was the evolution of multicellular life. The life forms that humans clearly familiarize with i.e. arthropods only began to evolve in the last 570 million years.

Other life forms later evolved such as fish (530 million years ago (Ma)), land plants (475 Ma), and forests 385 Ma. Mammals evolved 200 Ma, and the Homo sapiens (our own species) only evolved 200,000 years ago. Therefore, from the course materials in college, I have learned that human beings have been present on the Earth for just 0.004% of the history of Earth.

In addition, I concur with the considerable evidence of recent impacts of astronomical and geological alterations on life in Earth. For instance, the collision of interplanetary materials or debris with Planet of Earth is a practical idea (Full Documentary HD, 2015). Such instances are broadcasted daily in the media.

Besides, historic cases of collision have been described well in books (astronomy and geology). I have learnt that astronomical changes are likely to lead to mass extinction of evolving species on Earth. For instance, I have read in astronomy that larger impacts have the potential to impair the ecological balance of the entire Planet of Earth and in so doing, impact the course of evolution.

Life and Intelligence in the Cosmos

In the modern world, the question of whether there could be intelligent life beyond Earth has dominated the field of astrology. According to the documentary, Alien World beyond Our Solar System (Full Documentary HD, 2015), I learnt that there are chances that microbial life will develop intelligence like the one with human beings. I addition, I have learnt in high school and college biology that the Darwinian evolution enables biologists to understand the process of such microbial life evolving intelligence.

I have read in astrology books that most scientists (astrologists) hold the belief that origin of life is actually not that hard, or else it would have been difficult for it to emerge rapidly when the Planet Earth became hospitable. Nonetheless, such a belief faces criticism in that unless life on Earth had begun so quickly, human beings would not have emerged or evolved before the sun becoming too hot beyond bearable levels. Astronomers also believe that there is a possibility of billions of earthlike planets in the galaxy we live in alone. In daily discussions, I have also heard people argue that there cannot lack habitable real estate out there in the universe.

Philosophical Implications in the Synthesis of Astronomy, Earth Sciences, and the History of Life

It is evident that Earth science has received considerably little attention from science philosophers. For instance, philosophers of science dwell much on such concepts as dinosaur extinction and plate tectonics but disregard most of the Earth science. Philosophers, as well as other scholars in daily activities have argued that astronomy and Earth science cannot be considered as autonomous science as both can be reduced to more basic sciences i.e. chemistry and physics. In one way or another, I tend to agree with philosophers since most of the explanations such as the start of the Universe as well as the emergence and death of a star are concepts that can be described or elaborated in chemical or physical terms. In that light, I believe that earth sciences and other significant astronomical aspects can be considered as reducible to the more fundamental sciences.

However, I would also bring forth the thought that the origin and history of life, astronomy, Earth sciences should be accorded more philosophical attention in the sense that the geosciences are endowed with typical features that differentiate it from natural sciences.

Conclusion

To sum up, the paper has assessed various concepts of the astronomy course regarding personal experience and knowledge about the subject. I have provided deep insights on the specific topics as found in the course. Most of the content of the topics are factual but can as well be challenged, hence, my venture to criticize it. Nonetheless, I have attempted to explore varying perspectives of the different topics and provided the background or foundation of my knowledge about the topics i.e. from high school, documentaries, college and also daily activities.







References

Discovery Channel (2016). The universe׃ Birth and death of stars Documentary popular science [Motion Picture].

Full Documentary HD (2015). Alien worlds beyond our solar system.

Levinson, M. (Director). (2013). Particle fever (Documentary Filmz).

Seeds, M.A., & Backman, D.E. (1999). Astronomy : the solar system and beyond. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.