Astronomy Class Introduction

Space, The Final Frontier...

Astronomy Class Introduction TEST

Outline Page

Just Where Are We in Space????

We are on our planet, Earth:

Orbiting our sun, Sol:

(Yes, "Sol" is its name, at least in scientific circles)

Sol is the center of our Solar System:

CLICK ME to read more at Views of the Solar System

(See where the name "SOLar System" comes from?)
and contains over 99% of the mass in the solar system.
That means that if all the planets disappeared, an observer light-years away would have to have pretty fine instruments to see any difference in the sun's movement in space, and most of the change in its movement would be due to Jupiter.

Oh, yes, the sun is moving in space!

Where is our solar system?
Our Solar System is orbiting the center of our galaxy, a vast collection of stars and other things (like gas, dust, planets, black holes, the mysterious dark matter & dark energy) called The Milky Way (from the Greek galaxias kuklos meaning "milky circle") of which our solar system is a small, small, small, small part. Not insignificant! After all, we're here, but small compared to the rest of the galaxy!
*(This is another galaxy that resembles our own, with a representation of our location that is analogous to* our actual position on the Orion Arm in the Milky Way)**
It looks something like this. *(Click the Back* button to return here)** Oops! Ha Ha! Sorry, that's not real, it's Science Fiction, from TV! (The site I originally got the map from disappeared from cyberspace so I can no longer give credit where due. Email me if you know) But really, it's not far off from what we think may be real (except, of course, for the Klingon Empire and other mythical nasties). We don't know exactly what our galaxy looks like from a perspective from outside its boundaries, but it looks something like that, or probably a lot like this one, M83 (From Cornell University) but this annotated one from An Atlas of the Universe is very helpful. So where is our galaxy? M31, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda: It's part of a cluster of a few galaxies called The Local Group that looks something like this "Small" Group of Galaxies. ...but only sort of. Then, our "little" cluster (it's all relative, it's really quite large) may one day become part of a bigger one that we're moving toward, the Virgo Cluster containing 2,000 galaxies, (APOD of Virgo Cluster) and is at the center of a group called The Local Supercluster, which consists of even more galaxies. (See also The Coma Cluster) To get a feel for the relative sizes and distances involved, you really need to go to An Atlas of the Universe
Lastly, we are in a universe of uncountable numbers of clusters of galaxies. We think a portion of the universe may look a little like what you'll find HERE. And even more WEIRD maybe there are More Dimensions! (You gotta see this! If you can get red-blue 3-D glasses, it's even more cool!) We're just beginning to feel our way about in the dark... We are an embryonic spacefaring civilization. We have a long way to go before we can go a very long way.
Whew! That's a lot to swallow at once! Not to worry, though. We'll be investigating things so that we can get a basic overview of what the rest of everything looks like. You will read web pages like this, and link to great sites on the web. Astronomy is possibly the best represented subject on the web, and one of the most dynamic! New things happen all the time!
Okay, now take this test, and don't fret! Read through the page above. Click on the links. Think about what you're seeing. Ask each other what you think about these things. Please do NOT go on until you have taken and passed this test! Astronomy Introduction test After you have successfully completed the test, go on to the Constellations page.

Oh, before you go on:	.....you might want to look in on an investigation of the junk that all too often passes for science .....at *Bad Astronomy.com* and Bad Science.com.
UPDATED: 11/04/07