There are at least 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Every place in the universe has its own observable universe, which may or may not overlap with the one centered on Earth. The Observable Universe is a spherical volume (a ball) centered on the observer, regardless of the shape of the universe as a whole. If selected, our planet will officially enter the Crawfordian Age of the Anthropocene.In Big Bang cosmology, the observable universe is what, in theory, can be seen from Earth. While the International Commission on Stratigraphy announced the naming of the new epoch in July 2023, Crawford Lake is still in the process of getting approved as the site that marks the new epoch. The lake has two distinct layers of water that never intermix, causing falling sediments to settle in distinct layers at its bed over time. The best example has been found in the sediment of Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada. The clearest identified marker of this geological time shift, and the chosen golden spike for the Anthropocene, is radioactive plutonium from nuclear testing in the 1950s. The Anthropocene is distinguished by a myriad of imprints on the Earth including the proliferation of plastic particles and a noticeable increase in carbon dioxide levels in sediments. But after millennia of human activity, this epoch is quickly making way for the Anthropocene. Over the last 11,700 years, we have been living in the Holocene epoch, a relatively stable period that enabled human civilization to flourish. These include epochs like the Early Devonian, which saw the dawn of the first early shell organisms 400 million years ago, and the three Jurassic epochs, which saw dinosaurs become the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. The Earth has gone through many epochs leading up to the modern Anthropocene. Earth’s Geological Timeline Leading Up to the Anthropocene Some boundaries are so distinct and so widespread in the geologic record that they are known as “golden spikes.” Golden spikes can be climatic, magnetic, biological, or isotopic (chemical). If we were to cut a mountain in half, we could notice layers representing these changing spans of time, marked by differences in chemical composition and accumulated sediment. Note: Subepochs (between epochs and ages) have also been ratified for use in 2022, but are not yet clearly defined. Hundreds of thousands of years to tens of millions of years Millions of years to tens of millions of years Several hundred million years to two billion years The time span of each varies, since they’re dependent on major events like new species introduction, as well as how they fit into their parent units. The Earth’s geological history is divided into many distinct units, from eons to ages. In this infographic we dig deep into the Earth’s geological timeline to reveal the planet’s shift from one epoch to another, and the specific events that separate them. And scientists have recently defined the next major epoch using this geological time scale-the Anthropocene. Layers of the planet’s crust carry evidence of pivotal moments that changed the face of the Earth, such as the ice age and asteroid hits. Over the course of Earth’s history, there have been dramatic shifts in the landscape, climate, and biodiversity of the planet. The Anthropocene: A New Epoch in the Earth’s History Another well-known scientist was Edwin Hubble, whose findings of galaxies moving away from Earth is considered to be the first observation of the universe expanding. Most people are familiar with Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity, which became a cornerstone of both physics and astronomy. Humanity has been interested in space for thousands of years, and many scientists and researchers have dedicated their lives to furthering our collective knowledge about space and the universe. Why is it called the “Observable” Universe? It also highlights some newly deployed spacecraft, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is NASA’s latest infrared telescope, and the Tiangong Space Station, which was made by China and launched in April 2021. Scientists believe this newly-discovered galaxy was formed just 330 million years after the Big Bang, or roughly 8.4 billion years before Earth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |