The universe is a mysterious place, and we’ve yet to learn a lot about it. At the moment we already seem to know something, but in some cases we’re still missing the Christmas tree :) If you want to know what Christmas tree we’re missing, you must watch this inspiring TED talk.

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Watch

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Think about it

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Answer the questions below.

•  What do cosmologists do?
• What happened in 1965?
• What four things should we know about the universe?
• What is the difference between Newton’s and Einstein’s ideas on space and time?
• What do scientists still don’t know about galaxies?
• What is the connection between the universe and the Christmas tree?

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Practice makes perfect

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Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words. Use ONE word per blank space.

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The Universe is all of time and space and ________ contents. It includes planets, moons, minor planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, and all matter and energy. The size of the entire Universe ________ unknown.
The earliest scientific models of the Universe were developed ________ ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, placing the Earth ________ the center of the Universe. ________ the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing ________ law of universal gravitation, Sir Isaac Newton built upon Copernicus’s work as ________ as observations by Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Further observational improvements led to the realization that our Solar System is located in ________ Milky Way galaxy and is one of many solar systems and galaxies. It is assumed that galaxies are distributed uniformly and ________ same in all directions, meaning that the Universe has ________ an edge nor a center. Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the Universe had a beginning and that it is expanding ________ an increasing rate. The majority of mass in the Universe appears to exist in an unknown form called dark matter.
The Big Bang theory, the prevailing cosmological model describing the development of the Universe, states ________ space and time were created in the Big Bang and were given a fixed amount of energy and matter that becomes less dense ________ space expands. After the initial expansion, the Universe cooled, allowing the first subatomic particles to form and then simple atoms. Giant clouds later merged through gravity ________ form stars. Assuming that the standard model of the Big Bang theory is correct, the age of the Universe is measured ________ be 13.799±0.021 billion years.
There are many competing hypotheses about the ultimate fate of the Universe and about what, if anything, preceded the Big Bang, while other physicists and philosophers refuse ________ speculate, doubting that information about prior states will ever be accessible. Some physicists ________ suggested various multiverse hypotheses, in which the Universe might be one among many universes that likewise exist.

From Wikipedia, click here for answers.

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