Which Is The Study Of The Flow And Transformation Of Energy In The Universe?

Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical and chemical properties and processes of celestial objects and phenomena. It encompasses a broad range of topics including stellar evolution, galactic formation and dynamics, exoplanets, supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and the composition of the universe.

Closely related to astrophysics is the field of cosmology, which specifically focuses on the origin and evolution of the universe as a whole, from the Big Bang to today. While astrophysics studies the components that make up the universe like stars and galaxies, cosmology examines the universe on the largest scales.

Together, astrophysics and cosmology aim to understand the physical laws and forces that govern our universe, its origins, its content and its ultimate fate. These fields combine physics, chemistry and mathematics to analyze astronomical objects and phenomena on scales ranging from the subatomic to the entire observable universe.

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History

The origins of astrophysics can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as the Babylonians and Greeks who studied the movements of celestial objects like the Sun, Moon and planets. However, astrophysics emerged as a distinct field in the 16th and 17th centuries during the scientific revolution led by figures like Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton.

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published his heliocentric model of the solar system which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center. This challenged the prevailing geocentric model and led to a new understanding of planetary motion. Galileo Galilei built on this with his improvements to the telescope and observations of the sky which supported the heliocentric model.

Johannes Kepler formulated his three laws of planetary motion based on the astronomical observations of Tycho Brahe. Kepler’s laws accurately described the motion of the planets in their elliptical orbits around the Sun. Isaac Newton later developed his law of universal gravitation and laws of motion which unified celestial and terrestrial mechanics under one set of physical laws.

These pioneering scientists established the foundations of physics and modern astronomy that enabled later progress in astrophysics during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their work shaped our understanding of the solar system, stars and the wider universe.

Major Subfields

There are four major subfields of astrophysics:

Stellar Astrophysics

Stellar astrophysics is the study of stars – their formation, structure, evolution and death. This field examines things like stellar atmospheres, interiors, magnetospheres and stellar winds. Some key topics in stellar astrophysics include star formation, stellar evolution, supernovae, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes and more.

Galactic Astrophysics

Galactic astrophysics looks at the Milky Way galaxy and other galaxies. This involves studying the interstellar medium, galactic structure and morphology, stellar populations, galactic dynamics and more. Key topics include galactic chemical evolution, galactic magnetic fields, spiral arms, galactic halos, galaxy formation and evolution.

Extragalactic Astrophysics

Extragalactic astrophysics focuses on objects and phenomena beyond our own Milky Way galaxy. This includes topics like active galactic nuclei, quasars, galaxy clusters, large-scale structure, cosmology and more. Extragalactic astrophysicists study things like galaxy morphology, galaxy interactions, galaxy evolution, and the distance scale of the universe.

Cosmology

Cosmology is the study of the origin, structure, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe. This field examines the Big Bang, cosmic microwave background, inflation, dark matter, dark energy and the geometry and fate of the universe. Key goals include measuring cosmological parameters and understanding the initial conditions and overall evolution of the cosmos.

Methods of Study

Astrophysicists employ a wide array of methods to study the cosmos. Some of the main methods include:

Telescopes: Ground-based and space telescopes allow astrophysicists to observe astronomical objects across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. Telescopes like Hubble and Chandra provide ultra-sharp images and data from galaxies billions of lightyears away. Adaptive optics and interferometry techniques can overcome distortion effects from Earth’s atmosphere to achieve higher resolution imaging.

Spectroscopy: The absorption and emission spectra of astronomical objects reveal key information about their composition, temperature, density and velocity. Spectrographs split light into its component wavelengths, providing a cosmic fingerprint that astrophysicists can analyze.

Space Missions: Spacecraft like Voyager, Cassini and New Horizons have journeyed to the outer planets, asteroids and comets, gathering measurements impossible to obtain from Earth. Solar observatories like SOHO provide constant monitoring of the Sun’s activity. Space-based detectors like Fermi and Planck map cosmic background radiation and sources of high-energy gamma rays.

Stellar Astrophysics

Stellar astrophysics is the study of the formation, structure, evolution and death of stars. This field examines the stages and physics that govern the lifespan of stars, from birth to expansion into red giants or supernovae.

Some of the key topics in stellar astrophysics include:

Star Formation: This involves studying the gravitational collapse of gas clouds that leads to star birth, and the accretion process as matter falls inward. Astrophysicists examine star nurseries and the conditions that trigger stellar ignition.
Stellar Evolution: This analyzes how stars change over their lifetimes. As stars fuse hydrogen into helium, their cores contract while outer layers expand, causing size and brightness to change as they evolve. Models predict the course of stars based on mass and composition.
Supernovae: Massive stars end lives in spectacular supernovae explosions, leaving behind exotic remnants like neutron stars or black holes. Astrophysicists study the nuclear processes and mechanisms causing these violent cosmic events.

By understanding stellar lifecycles and the physics governing stars, astrophysicists gain insights into the origins of elements and cosmic events like gamma ray bursts. Stellar astrophysics remains an active area of research in mapping stellar populations across our galaxy and beyond.

Galactic Astrophysics

Galactic astrophysics is the study of the structure, dynamics and evolution of galaxies. Galaxies are gravitationally bound systems of stars, stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and dark matter. The Milky Way galaxy that contains our Solar System is the galaxy astronomers are able to study in greatest detail. By examining other galaxies we can understand the similarities and differences with our own.

The components and structures astrophysicists examine within galaxies include:

Stellar populations – The types, numbers, and distributions of stars within a galaxy.
Interstellar medium – The gas and dust between stars, including nebulae.
Central supermassive black holes – Most large galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their center.

Dark matter halo – An extended halo of invisible dark matter surrounding and influencing the galaxy.
Spiral arms – Visible spiral structures made up of stars and interstellar gas and dust.
Globular clusters – Spherical collections of hundreds of thousands of older stars orbiting the galaxy.

Galactic astrophysicists build models and simulations to study interactions within and among galaxies. This provides insights into:

Galaxy formation and evolution over cosmic time.
Star formation rates and conditions.

Gas accretion, outflows, and recycling.
Effects of mergers, collisions and close encounters between galaxies.
Influence of the dark matter halo on stellar and gas dynamics.

Fueling and activity of central supermassive black holes.

Studying our own and many other galaxies gives astrophysicists a fuller understanding of these vast island cities of stars drifting through the cosmos.

Extragalactic Astrophysics

Extragalactic astrophysics is the study of galaxies and matter outside our own Milky Way galaxy. There are billions of galaxies beyond the Milky Way, each containing billions of stars, planets, gas, dust and dark matter. Galaxies are categorized by their shape, size, and composition. The most common types are spiral, elliptical, irregular, and lenticular.

Galaxies group together in clusters containing hundreds or thousands of galaxies bound by gravity. Galaxy clusters can span millions of light years and contain vast amounts of hot gas in between the galaxies. This intergalactic gas is extremely diffuse but contains most of the ordinary baryonic matter in the universe.

Studying galaxies beyond our own provides insight into how galaxies formed and evolved after the Big Bang. Observing distant galaxies shows earlier stages of galaxy evolution when the universe was younger. Astronomers examine properties like star formation rates, gas content, shapes, and motions of galaxies across cosmic time.

Key tools for studying distant galaxies include optical and infrared telescopes on the ground and in space. Spectroscopy reveals the redshift of galaxy light, which indicates distance and velocity. Ongoing research is mapping galaxies farther than ever before, even detecting early galaxies that formed within the first billion years after the Big Bang.

Cosmology

Cosmology is the study of the large-scale structure and evolution of the universe. Some of the major topics within cosmology include:

Large-Scale Structure

On the largest scales, the universe has a foam-like structure, with galaxies forming into clusters, filaments, sheets, and voids. This cosmic web of structure emerged from the growth of small density fluctuations in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.

Dark Matter

Astronomical observations indicate that there is far more matter in the universe than we can see. This invisible “dark matter” makes up about 27% of the universe and is responsible for forming the large-scale structure we observe. Dark matter only interacts gravitationally, making it difficult to detect directly.

Dark Energy

In the late 1990s, astronomers discovered that not only is the universe expanding, but this expansion is accelerating. Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious force causing this acceleration. Dark energy makes up about 68% of the universe and appears to be an inherent energy density of empty space itself.

Cosmic Microwave Background

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is electromagnetic radiation left over from an early stage of the universe called the recombination epoch. By studying the small temperature fluctuations in the CMB, cosmologists gain insight into conditions in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang. Measurements of the CMB provide strong support for the Hot Big Bang cosmological model.

Recent Discoveries

In recent years, astrophysics has made several revolutionary discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the universe.

One major milestone was the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). These ripples in space-time were caused by two black holes colliding over a billion light-years away. Since then, LIGO and its European counterpart Virgo have continued detecting gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars.

Another area of rapid discovery is exoplanets. Thousands have been identified in the past two decades using methods like radial velocity, transit photometry, and direct imaging. Notable examples include the TRAPPIST-1 system with 7 Earth-sized planets and Kepler-16b, an exoplanet orbiting two stars. The study of exoplanets has revealed an incredible diversity of planetary systems and brought us closer to finding potentially habitable worlds.

Additionally, there is an ongoing debate about the discrepancy in measurements of the Hubble constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding. This centers around tensions between local measurements from Type 1a supernovae and early universe observations from the cosmic microwave background. Resolving this Hubble constant problem may lead to new physics and insights into dark matter and dark energy.

These and other developments show how astrophysics continues making revolutionary strides in understanding the cosmos. Powerful instruments like the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope promise that the most important discoveries still lie ahead.

Future Outlook

The future of astrophysics looks bright as new missions and telescopes are set to expand our understanding of the universe. Some upcoming projects of note include:

The James Webb Space Telescope – Scheduled to launch in 2021, this next generation infrared telescope will observe some of the most distant galaxies in the universe. It is expected to help answer key questions about the origins of the universe and formation of the earliest galaxies.

Euclid Space Telescope – This European Space Agency mission launching in 2022 will map billions of galaxies and search for clues about dark matter and dark energy.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – Formerly known as WFIRST, this NASA telescope launching in the mid-2020s will perform wide-field surveys to investigate dark energy and exoplanet discoveries.
Athena X-ray Observatory – The European Space Agency plans to launch this X-ray telescope in the early 2030s to provide insights on black hole growth and formation of large scale structure in the universe.

In addition to new telescopes, astrophysicists hope to make progress on major open questions in the field, including:

Understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy, which combined comprise about 95% of the observable universe.
Learning more about the early universe and cosmic inflation following the Big Bang.

Discovering and characterizing Earth-like exoplanets in habitable zones around other stars.
Observing gamma-ray bursts, neutron stars, black holes and other extreme cosmic events to probe gravity and matter under extreme conditions.
Gaining insights into how galaxies and larger structures formed and evolved over billions of years.

The next generation of observatories and theoretical advances promise an exciting future for unraveling some of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics.