In the article written by Jamie Leach, the author discusses some of the discoveries and debates of 20th century cosmology. One such debate he describes is the Shapley-Curtis debate. In the early 20th century, astronomers struggled to determine the true size of our universe, as well as the nature of nebulae. Two competing ideas arose: the “island universe” hypothesis and a single galaxy hypothesis, as described by Harlow Shapley. The “island universe” hypothesis suggested that each nebula was its own galaxy like the Milky Way, while the idea of a single galaxy said that the Milky Way was much larger than estimates of the time and all nebulae were part of the galaxy or clouds outside of it. These two opposing views were debated at the National …show more content…
W. Campbell, the Director at the Lick Observatory: first, the Milky Way may be a spiral, like the spiral nebulae seen throughout the sky; second, spirals have “dark lanes” that block light from other spirals; third, the velocity of spiral nebulae imply that they must be outside of the galaxy; fourth, the masses of spiral nebulae are extremely massive; fifth, it is unreasonable to assume spiral nebulae are part of the galaxy based on their proper motions; sixth, the spectra of spiral nebulae imply that they are huge collections of stars; and seventh, the Magellanic Clouds may have spiral structures, and therefore could be the closest island universes …show more content…
Heber Curtis represented the “island universe” hypothesis and Shapley argued for his single galaxy hypothesis. Shapley used his calculations of distances to Cepheid variable stars to attempt to estimate distances to clusters and nebulae, resulting in his assertion that the galaxy was 10 times large than his contemporaries estimated (Leach). Shapley also used the works of Sir Arthur Eddington and Henry Norris Russell to back up his hypothesis. Eddington and Russell were prominent scientists of their time; however, their ideas upon which Shapley built his argument were later proven wrong (Tyson). Curtis asserted that the galaxy was much smaller than Shapley’s estimates. One significant point he made was that spiral nebulae are not observed within the plane of the Milky Way. If they were part of the galaxy, as Shapley claimed, they should be found throughout the galaxy. Curtis claimed that spiral nebulae must be objects similar to the Milky Way because dark bands were observed in some spirals, and if the Milky Way had such a band, it would block out the light from other spirals and explain why none are seen near the plane of the galaxy. Additionally, spirals’ spectra were indicative of a massive cluster of stars, similar in size to what Curtis assumed the Milky Way to be
In Alan Lightman’s, “Our Place in the Universe,” he describes his experiences in the Greek Isles explaining how meek it made him feel to be surrounded by the vast ocean with no land in sight except a small strip of brown in the distance. Great thinkers throughout history, have been exploring the visible variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, though the greatest of these are size, from the smallest atom to gargantuan stars. These massive differences in size change the way we view ourselves in the universe. (470) Garth Illingworth, from the University of California, has studied galaxies more than 13 billion light years away from us.
Within William Rowe’s Chapter two of “The Cosmological Argument”, Rowe reconstructs Samuel Clark's Cosmological Argument by making explicit the way in which the Principle of Sufficient Reason, or PSR, operates in the argument as well as providing contradictions of two important criticisms from Rowe’s argument.
In the article The Cosmic Perspective by Neil deGrasse Tyson he examines a range of topics from human life coming from Mars to how our perspective of the universe relates to religion. In the year 2000, a new space show opened at the Hayden Planetarium called Passport to the Universe, which compared the size of people Milky Way and beyond. While a show like this might make someone feel minuscule and insignificant, Tyson says that seeing the size of the universe actually makes him feel more alive not less and gives him a sense of grandeur. I agree with his idea that looking at us as a people in comparison can actually give you a sense of grandeur. However, when I compare myself to the vastness of space, it puts events on Earth in perspective while showing how influential we can be as a people even if we are small.
Clusters like NGC 6530 were formed from the same cloud, and as a result have roughly the same age. This makes them of particular interest to astronomers. Because clusters are all formed from the same material, have roughly the same age, and distance from earth, variations in their brightness is only due to their mass ("Open Star Clusters"). This makes them particularly useful for studying stellar evolution. This cluster was first observed by Hodierna in 1654, and later found independently by Flamsteed in 1680 when he discovered the cluster was located within the Lagoon Nebula. Like most open star clusters, NGC 6530 is relatively young; having been formed less than 6 million years ago ("Young Stars Paint Spectacular Stellar Landscape"). It is known to consist of more than a hundred known bright stars, the light of which show very little reddening as a result of interstellar matter from the nebula, this is likely because the cluster is located just in front of the
The cosmological argument is the existence of God, arguing that the possibility of each existing and the domain collected of such elements in this universe. The inquiry is that 'for what reason does anything exist? Why as opposed to nothing? In this paper, I will explain for what reason does everything need cause? Why is God thought to be the principal cause?
In support of his thesis that the universe spawned from nothing, Krauss points towards the big bang theory. The original theory was that everything was static, but Edwin Hubble proved this invalid, that the universe was actually expanding. Using advances in telescopic technology and previous knowledge of the light from stars, he correctly made this assertion. Using the very same scrutiny, Hubble determined that our Milky Way galaxy was not the only one in the universe. Krauss uses this theory to demonstrate that an expanding universe mean...
This paper discusses how cosmology and how philosophy can be connected to one another. In order to explain this reason, the paper is broken down into three subtitles which are: metaphysics, religion, and ontology. Each part connects to cosmology in one term or another. In each subtopic, it will discuss the topic, its background in the philosophical review. As a result, in the conclusion, it will discuss how cosmology compares to them all.
For the purposes of this debate, I take the sign of a poor argument to be that the negation of the premises are more plausible than their affirmations. With that in mind, kohai must demonstrate that the following premises are probably false:
The Main Strengths of the Cosmological Argument There are many strengths within the Cosmological Argument which have proven theories and ways to prove the existence of God. Many of these strengths have come from such scholars as; Copleston, Aquinas and Leibniz, all of which have put together major points to prove the existence of a non-contingent being. One of the main strengths of the Cosmological Argument is from Aquinas way I that was about motion. This would be a posteriori argument because you need to gather evidence from the world around you.
astounding wonders of the galaxy, but we may never find the answers that we’re looking for.
Waller, William H. The Milky Way: An Insider's Guide. Princeton, N.J: Princeton UP, 2013. 42+. Print.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the Milky Way Galaxy’s closest neighbor; with it being around 2.5 million lightyears away from Earth. It was once referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older readings. It gets its name from the Andromeda constellation which in turn received its name from the Greek goddess Andromeda.
The early Universe was not bound by the laws of physics as we know them today, and consequently this means scientists cannot predict with great accuracy what the Universe looked like during the ear...
13.8 Billion years ago, long before the creation of the popular television show, The Big Bang Theory occurred and is now the most widely recognized cosmological model for the universe. The Big Bang theory is an attempt to explain how the universe we know today began. Over the years, numerous discoveries and research have revealed that our universe did have a beginning, and that there was nothing before the Big Bang occurred. Throughout history there have been other theories as to how our universe began, though the Big Bang still prevails. One of the most exciting parts about the universe is a vast and fascinating place and there are even new discoveries still being made today. The Big Bang theory is widely regarded as the most likely scenario
Astronomers believe that most galaxies consist of a supermassive black hole at the center, which attracts all constituents of galaxies such as, dust, gases (mainly Hydrogen and Helium), atoms, stars, interstellar clouds and planets to the center by force of gravity, but are not sure whether all galaxies contain a black hole in the center. Galaxies keep moving in relative motion to one another and intermittently can come so close that the force of gravitational attraction between the galaxies may become strong enough to cause a change in the shape of the galaxies, while in exceptional cases, the galaxies may collide. If two galaxies collide, they may pass right through without any effect or may merge, forming strands of stars, extending beyond 100,000 light years in space (World Book Online Reference Centre, 2005). Hence, neighboring and often other colliding galaxies induce the sha...