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Experiments suggest that the universe has been governed by the same physical laws and constants throughout its extent and history. The dominant force at cosmological distances is gravity, and general relativity is currently the most accurate theory of gravitation. The remaining three fundamental forces and the particles on which they act are described by the Standard Model. Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. Astronomers try to measure it all the time. They use a special instrument called a spectroscope to tell whether an object is moving away from Earth or toward Earth. The age of the Universe can also be estimated from a cosmological model based on the Hubble constant and the densities of matter and dark energy. As the early universe developed the stars were drawn together into large clusters called galaxies. And hundred billion stars in our galaxy, hundreds of billions of galaxies in the observable universe.

     Click to see the sun really moving

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Astronomers of early civilizations performed methodical observations of the night sky, and astronomical artifacts have been found from much earlier periods. However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, the making of calendars, and even astrology, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.

 


Cosmology is often an important aspect of the creation myths of religions that seek to explain the existence and nature of reality. In some cases, views about the creation (cosmogony) and destruction (eschatology) of the universe play a central role in shaping a framework of religious cosmology for understanding humanity's role in the universe.


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Links


Runaway Universe -http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/
Companion website for a PBS NOVA program originally broadcast in 2000, which examines the size, future and fate of the universe. Contains background material on mapping the universe, supernovae as standard candles, and a virtual tour of the universe.

Cosmology http://www.einstein-online.info/en/spotlights/cosmology/index.html

Cosmology: A Research Briefing http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9293
Online book from the National Academy of Sciences, published in 1995 by the National Research Council's Board on Cosmology as a re-assessment of the cosmological research earlier examined by the Physics Survey Committee. Includes chapters on the cosmic background radiation, the large scale structure of universe, and the physics of the early universe.



The Planetary Society http://planetary.org
A nonprofit organization that promotes exploration of the solar system and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
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