KS3/4 Environment – Appreciation

Wonders of the Universe

a. Albert Einstein; Aim: b. Fritz Zwicky; • To consider something of the c. Edwin Hubble; enormity of the universe, and the d. Johannes Kepler relationship of the human race to it • Quasars (quasi-stellar objects) are the To ponder what the significance • brightest objects in the Universe. Where of humans might be does their energy come from?

a. Nuclear burning; Introduction b. Matter falling into a black hole; c. Collision of stars; d. Gravitational collapse What do you know about the Universe?

• Galaxies form larger clumps called clusters. Have a multiple choice quiz about the They are held together by their own Universe, e.g.: gravity. How many galaxies are in a typical

The universe is expanding at the same cluster? • rate in each direction. What is the a. 10;

centre of the universe? b. 1000; a. The sun; c. 1 million; b. It has no centre; d. 1 billion c. The Milky Way; d. The Earth Looking Deeper

• Besides ordinary matter, the universe The Wonders of the Universe contains a lot of ‘dark matter’, which is an unknown substance. What fraction Ask pupils whether any of them have been of the mass of the Universe is ordinary watching the television series ‘The Wonders matter, like hydrogen and helium? of the Universe’. a. 70-80%; b. 30-40%; In the first programme, Professor Brian Cox c. 2-3%; explained the theory that the Universe has a d. 0-0.2% finite ‘life-span’ – that it is inevitably going to cease to exist, although the process would take • Galaxies are built of many stars. How many trillions of years. Long before the end of many stars in a typical galaxy? the Universe, conditions within our Solar a. 10 million; System will have changed to the extent that b. 1 billion; human life will no longer be sustainable. Just c. 100 billion; as the Earth is a tiny speck in the infinite d. 100 trillion distances of the Universe, so Professor Cox said, “ life .. is just a temporary structure, a brief • The expansion of the universe was moment on the long road from order to discovered by observing that all disorder.” galaxies are moving away from us. Page Who made this discovery? 1 of 2

KS3/4 Environment – Appreciation

Reflection and crowned them with glory and honour. You gave them charge of everything you

What is our significance? made, putting all things under their authority the flocks and the herds Many people, commenting on internet and all the wild animals, forums about the programme, felt the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, depressed at the idea that human life and everything that swims the ocean might cease to exist. But Professor Cox currents. himself was far more upbeat and positive, as he stated, “that doesn’t make us O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills insignificant because we are the cosmos the earth! made conscious and life is the means by which the Universe understands itself. For (Taken from Psalm 8) me our true significance lies in our ability

and our desire to understand and explore

this beautiful Universe. I believe it is only Prayer by our continued exploration of the cosmos and the laws of nature that Lord God, govern it, that we will truly understand ourselves and our place in this Universe of When we look at the vastness of the wonders.” Universe, we can be tempted to think that we as humans are insignificant and Three thousand years before Professor worthless. Please help us to see ourselves Cox reflected on the significance of as you see us and to understand the value human life in relation to the Universe, a that you place on each individual human humble shepherd boy studied the stars as life. he sat under the night sky, caring for his sheep. Without the benefits of modern Amen. scientific equipment and discoveries, he sensed the vastness of the Universe we Key words live in and it caused him to reflect on the significance of human beings. He wrote a Universe, poem, which is recorded within the book wonder, of Psalms in the Old Testament section of value, the Bible: significance

O Lord, when I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers the moon and the stars you set in place

what are mere mortals that you should

think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God Page 2 of 2