Components of the Universe
- Dark matter: Dark matter has a way of bending light. Almost 90% of the mass in the universe is invisible to us, known as Dark Matter. It also has some gravitational pull, which can be explained in clouds of gasses, that would otherwise fly apart.
- Black Holes: Black holes are imploded stars that keep its mass and gravity. The clack holes are infinitely small with no real shape, and can suck in everything that is a certain distance away. Not even light will be able to avoid being taken in. However, it will not take everything, for example, if our sun was to become a black hole, the planets would continue rotating as they are now.
- Pulsars: A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star that sends out radio waves and radioactive pulses from its North and South poles.
- Galaxies: A galaxy is basically an oasis in space filled with planets, stars, dust, nebulae, black holes, and ect. Galaxies are divided into 4 groups: spiral, barred spiral, elliptical, and irregular. The universe is GIGANTIC! There are billions of stars in one galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the universe, and each galaxy is billions of light years away. Galaxies also travel in clusters, and those clusters form "sponge like" superclusters.
- Clusters: A cluster is a group of stars "clustered" together. The main clusters can be classified as: Open Clusters- a group of stars that are held together by gravity and have from 12 to 1000 stars; Global Clusters- Older more tightly packed stars that have from 10,000 to 1,000,000,000 stars. They are classified by size and shape. Global clusters, seen through a telescope, are supposedly the most beautiful thing in the sky.
- Nebulae: A nebulae is basically a very large cloud filled up with gasses and dust. These celestial objects contain matter from which stars and star clusters are formed from. The stars actually make them glow red, blue, and green colors, making it pretty. They are classified into 5 types: Emission nebulae- a high-temperature cloud of gas, that created ultraviolet radiation; Reflection nebulae- does not reflect it's own light, but instead that of other nearby stars; Dark nebulae- because of the light source, they look different, even though they preform the same actions as the reflection nebulae; Planetary nebulae- a shell of gas that is produced by a star at the end of it's "life"; Supernova Remnant- when a star ends it's life in a giant explosion, a remnant is created.
- Quasars: Are strong, bright, and distant stars that emit radio waves. These are so powerful, they can burn the energy of a trillion suns! Even astronomers cannot figure out exactly what they are! Quasars are so distant, that they are believed to be the most ancient celestial body in the universe. They also contain super strong, and active black holes in the center, so they take in a lot of material.
- Stars: A star is a bunch of hot gasses with dust. A full life cycle of a star always stars out as a Stellar Nebulae. Stars can be classified as O, B, A, F, G, K, and M.