What Happened After The BIG Bang?

Nearly thirteen billion years ago the universe formed. But what happened seconds afterwards? Well light formed around half a billion years later. Twelve million years ago, the first stars formed. Li and Fe were made. Nearly eight billion years later, the Solar System formed. Fusion of heavy elements were in supernovas for billions of years. Two billion years after, water forms. Then another billion years, and life on Earth has finally happened.

Life on Alpha Centauri?

Alpha Centauri does not feature any liquid. This means there is no water located on Alpha Centauri. However, it does have a magnetic field. It is created by the convection located throughout the body. Because it is a star, oxygen can't be found in Alpha Centauri. No human could survive in it's body without a space suit. In my opinion, I believe Alpha Centauri has no alien life on it. It seems impossible for a star to have a complex life species.

There is a body that scientists believe may have life. It is called Enceladus. It is one of Saturn's largest moons. There is water and nitrogen located out it. There is some simple building blocks which may give a hint that it has life. I think it might have life. There is a small chance that it does, and there is some evidence, but no confirmation of life has been declared.

Can humans get to Alpha Centauri?

There are different types of measurements to measure big bodies like Alpha Centauri. These include, Kilometers (km), Astronomical Unit (AU), and Light Years (ly). We can measure the diameter of a planet or the distance of 2 cities with kilometers. AU is used when you need to measure the distance of a planet to the sun. 1 AU equals up to 150,000 Kilometers. We use light years to measure distance from planet to a star.

Alpha Centauri c is 168,000 years away from Earth. We could not get there from Earth. It would take too many years to travel. Humans would die before they would land. Unless space travel advances, no live human could get to Alpha Centauri A, B, or/and C.

Meet Alpha Centauri A ,Centauri B and Centauri C

Something Unique about Alpha Centauri is that it has three stars: Alpha Centauri A B, C (ABC)

Alpha Centauri A is the first and primary star. It is also slightly bigger than the sun being about 10% more massive than it. It is a white dwarf, but due to it's spectral type being G2 V it is more of a yellowish-white color.

Alpha Centauri B is slightly smaller than our sun. Even though it is a white dwarf, it has a much more orangish-yellowish color. This is because the spectral type of the star is K1 V.

Then there is Alpha Centauri C. It is the closest star from Earth. But that does not mean we could get there. It may be the closest, but it is still thousands and thousands of years away from Earth. It is referred to Proxima Centauri, but people call it Alpha Centauri as well. It is the smallest of the three Aplha Centauri. The other 2 are much bigger in size.

Formation of a Star

A star is formed when:

1. Gas and Dust collect

2. Gravity pulls in more gas

3. Core becomes very dense, hot and pressured so fusion begins

4. A star is Born!

Fusion: the process or result of joining 2 or more things together to form into a single entry.

A Planet?

Pluto, which used to be a planet not so long ago, is no longer considered one because qualify as a planet like Earth and Mars need three important things.

These include:

1.It needs to orbit the the sun-Yes, Pluto does orbit the Sun

2.It needs to has enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape-Yep, Pluto is spherical all right

3.It needs to have enough gravitational pull and govern all other objects in orbit-Sadly no it does not. Pluto is too small to govern everything around it. So in reality, it is a Dwarf Planet. The objects around Pluto have almost the same size as Pluto.

So, if Pluto is not a planet, then Alpha Centauri can't be one either. First of all, Alpha Centauri is a STAR so it can not be a PLANET. How could a star orbit another star. It can't. It's impossible. Alpha Centauri is a star and can't be anything else. It can be a body, but so can many other things in Space. No two bodies can be more then two things.

The size of Alpha Centauri is...?

Alpha Centauri has a diameter of 1,203,215 km. Thats pretty big, right? Well that is nothing compared to other stars in the universe. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the sun. It can fit into the sun 1.15606936416 times. It can fit into Earth 0.01056787856 times.

Trip To AMNH

Recently, the eighth grade went to the AMNH. We first watched a movie about the Big Bang theory where we learned about how the universe developed from a much hotter and smaller condition compared to today. We walked down a staircase that showed what the universe looked like 13 million years ago. As we walked down each step, we could see the change in time from when the universe first started until the present. We also visited the Hall of Meteorites, where we studied and observed many different meteorites. One meteorite was named Ahnighto that was found in Green Land. It's weight was a massive 34 tons. The Meteorites gave a history and background of many planets in our Solar System. We also watched a movie about stars. It showed how stars, including the Sun, was born and how they die.

I learned a lot at the AMNH. The big bang occurred thirteen million years ago. Then in another million years, the universe expanded. Nine million years ago, the Milky Way formed. Five million years ago, the Solar System formed. Then two million years ago, oxygen developed and one million years later, Dinosaurs were born. I also learned more about stars.

I still have some questions though. I am studying a star system, called Alpha Centauri. I already know that it was discovered by Father Richaud, but want to know more. What kind of materials did he need to discover Alpha Centauri other than a telescope? Also, who is this Father Richaud guy? What else has he discovered and how famous was he?

Father Richaud's Discovery

Father Richaud was a man who was the discoverer of the Alpha Centauri. It was founded by him in December of 1689. It was discovered while Father Richaud was observing a comet. French astronomer, Abbe Nicolas Louis de Lacille later made some measurements using a meridian circle which is an instrument used for observing the time of stars passing the meridian.

Source:Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri