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The First Trillionth Second of The Universe

Posted on the November 2nd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

Article contributed by: Mike Thomas

Data collected in 2006 from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, has given cosmologists their best evidence in support of a scenario referred to as ‘inflation’. The inflation scenario is where the universe would have rapidly grown to massive proportions within the first trillionth of a second of its existence. This particular set of evidence was collected over the course of three years by continuous observation of leftover afterglow light. This is background cosmic radiation which has hung around since the beginning of the universe almost 14 billion years ago.

NASA made an announcement in 2003, that WMAP had been able to take a very detailed image of the universe in it’s infancy by charting changes in the temperature of the afterglow. This allowed scientists to answer many unanswered queries they had about things such as the age of the universe, its composition and how it developed. Since that time the team operating the WMAP satellite has built upon that initial image and incorporated new results including the measurement of the glare from afterglow in order to learn further clues regarding the first few moments of the universe. This is where the initial seeds were sown which would lead to the creation of the stars 400 million years on.

How the Universe Came To Be

Posted on the October 23rd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

How the Universe Came To Be

What is the origin of the universe? Providing an answer to this question has always being a challenge. Thanks to modern science and technology, scientists can now explain some things about the vast universe. This is an incredible achievement given the size of the whole universe. To understand how large the universe really is, did you know that the stars visible at night are only a tiny fraction about 3000 closest to the earth out of about 300 billion stars found in our galaxy only. Consider that there are about 100 billion more galaxies in the universe yet to explored and that ends up being a pretty big number.

The biggest questions human beings have about the universe are whether it has always existed or whether it just started all of a sudden. A significant discovery made at the beginning of the past century indicated that the whole universe is expanding. Scientists took this to mean that the universe began long ago very time and expanded to what it is today with time.

The discovery that the universe has not always existed but had a start combined with its large size and complexity led people to wonder what the origin of the universe was. After years of research and speculations, the Bing Bang theory is one of the most popular theories of the origin of the universe.

Did The Big Bang Really Happen?

Posted on the June 23rd, 2012 under The Universe by Aaron

The Bing Bang Theory if the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe. Scientists are confident about this theory because of observational results showing that the universe originated from the big bang. Here are the three major evidences that the universe formed from the big bag explosion.

1. The Discovery That the Universe Is Expanding

The first evidence of the Big Bang happening is the observation that the universe is continuously expanding creating a bigger distance between the different galaxies in the universe. This realization indicates that everything in the universe was once close together until an explosion triggered the expansion.

When speculations began about the universe being in an expansive state, there was no evidence to support this. This changed when Vesto Slipher, an explorer, observed that more galaxies where moving away from ours rather than were approaching. By monitoring the spectrum of light produced by a galaxy, Slipher was able to know whether the galaxy was moving away or towards our galaxy.

Galaxies coming towards us have a spectrum of light with a shorter wavelength (blueshift). This is similar to how an approaching vehicle produces a higher pitch due to a shorter sound wavelength. On the other hand, galaxies moving away from our galaxy exhibit a spectrum of light characterized by a longer wavelength/ redshift similar to how a disappearing vehicle produces a lower pitch due to a longer sound wavelength. Slipher found out that most of the galaxies had a longer wavelength and were moving away.

Just How Far Away Is Everything In The Universe and Galaxy?

Posted on the May 23rd, 2010 under The Universe by Aaron

One of the most common questions about the universe is how far and how big everything is. The stars in the night sky appear so close as if it is possible to reach out and touch them. However, the stars are very far away. This raises questions as to exactly how far away the stars are, what is above them and how large the universe is.

Without considering the distance, the sky appears to be like a bowl above our heads. Figuring out the distance the stars are from us is the first step to figuring out how the entire universe looks like and forming a three dimensional picture. This is the first step to getting answers to some of the questions bothering scientists for years. Such questions include, how old is the universe? How large is the universe? What is our place and role in the universe?

Over the years, different generations of scientists have explored the universe discovering new things about the vast expanse that is the universe. In the third century BC, Aristarchus of Samos estimated the distance to the moon using the shadow of the earth formed during a lunar eclipse. However, the large size of the universe means that this there is a long way to go and the discoveries made so far are the first steps of a long journey of discovery.

The Age & Composition of the Universe

Posted on the March 22nd, 2010 under The Universe by Aaron

Our universe is believed to be approximately 14 billion years old. This figure is believed to be accurate to within 120 million years. The age is based on very accurate measurements of the universe’s oldest light. This date was announced in March 2006, although it is believed that additional data from WMAP in recent years has reduced the margin of error to within tens of millions of years.

It was around 380,000 years after the Big Bang that the temperature of the universe has reduced by enough to allow Hydrogen atoms to be formed from protons and electrons. This resulted in a burst of light which as time progressed (several billion years to be exact) became microwaves detectable as background radiation across the cosmos. There are a number of variations which can be observed in this radiation and NASA have been monitoring this since 2001 and the data collected all provides further evidence to support the idea of inflation. This rapid expansion would have occurred in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a second of the universe’s existence! The latest data provided by WMAP has allowed scientists to make a distinction between the various suggested inflation models. There is now very viable evidence to support the universe being filled with subatomic particles with virtually no mass called neutrinos. This presence of primordial neutrinos was predicted in the Big Bang theory.

Our Expanding Universe

Posted on the November 30th, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

It is very difficult for some to comprehend, but space is actually expanding. In particular the huge empty areas in between galaxies are growing. I say empty spaces, but if we take Albert Einstein’s view – he believed that space was not empty, but rather that it was a real and somewhat flexible  thing that could be stretched. This is part of his predictions based on his theory of gravity which is at its base level a simple explanation of the relationships between space, time and matter.

It was towards the end of the 1920′s that astronomer Edwin Hubble (now famous for the Hubble telescope) first made the observation that far off galaxies were actually pulling away from ours. This of course supports the idea that the space that lies in between them is expanding as theorized by Einstein. Since this first observation, astronomers have continued to measure the ever growing distances between millions of other galaxies.

The galaxies themselves appear somewhat passive. They sit in space while it expands between them carrying them further and further away from each other. From time to time the gravity from any one particular galaxy – or even from several – can interfere with natural path of the galaxies as they are pushed further apart. This can result is them colliding with neighbouring galaxies. However, this is very rare and for the most part if you were to look at any two adjoining areas of space the galaxies in each would appear to move away from each other. The most confusing part of all is that space isn’t actually expanding into something else! When one region expands it does not have to push something else out of its way.

The Multiverse Theory

Posted on the September 22nd, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

The Multiverse Theory on the Origin of the Universe and Its Implications

The Multiverse Theory is a new concept that expands our cosmic understanding of the universe. It is almost as revolutionary as the discovery that the earth revolves around a star located on the edge of the Milky Way.

According to this theory, when a star has enough mass, it is possible for it to collapse on itself forming black holes. Scientists think that there is a point within these holes where all physical laws stop to apply. They refer to this point as the point of singularity where the space-time curvature is infinitely large making it impossible for modern science to forecast future happenings.

At this point, not even Einstein’s theory of relativity can identify the effect singularity will have on an object. This creates a point of uncertainty in the universe where knowing is not possible. This is a point beyond the knowledge and understanding of modern science.

This uncertainty has led to the development of many theories to explain the concept of singularity. Some theories claim that beyond singularity, there are tunnels that act as shortcuts to the ends of the universe.

On the positive side, these black holes could be the gateway to interstellar travel, which until now is impossible due to relativity. However, numerous complications hinder this possibility. The most prominent complication is that the strong gravity of a black hole would destroy any interstellar spacecraft travelling through it. This is a challenge that would need addressing before interstellar travel is possible.

Our Expanding Universe

Posted on the April 14th, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

It is very difficult for some to comprehend, but space is actually expanding. In particular the huge empty areas in between galaxies are growing. I say empty spaces, but if we take Albert Einstein’s view – he believed that space was not empty, but rather that it was a real and somewhat flexible  thing that could be stretched. This is part of his predictions based on his theory of gravity which is at its base level a simple explanation of the relationships between space, time and matter.

It was towards the end of the 1920′s that astronomer Edwin Hubble (now famous for the Hubble telescope) first made the observation that far off galaxies were actually pulling away from ours. This of course supports the idea that the space that lies in between them is expanding as theorized by Einstein. Since this first observation, astronomers have continued to measure the ever growing distances between millions of other galaxies.

The galaxies themselves appear somewhat passive. They sit in space while it expands between them carrying them further and further away from each other. From time to time the gravity from any one particular galaxy – or even from several – can interfere with natural path of the galaxies as they are pushed further apart. This can result is them colliding with neighbouring galaxies. However, this is very rare and for the most part if you were to look at any two adjoining areas of space the galaxies in each would appear to move away from each other. The most confusing part of all is that space isn’t actually expanding into something else! When one region expands it does not have to push something else out of its way.

The Big Bang Theory and the Origin of the Universe

Posted on the February 22nd, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

Different people believe in different theories on the origin of the universe depending on their beliefs. Out of all the scientific theories on the origin of the universe, The Big Bang Theory is the most popular. This theory originated from scientists observation that other galaxies in the universe move from our galaxy in all directions and at high speeds, indicating that an explosive force was in action during the formation of the universe.

According to these scientists, long before the Big Bang theory when the universe formed, the whole universe condensed into one, super hot and dense mass. They believe the mass was tiny- a few millimeters wide and lasted a fraction of the first second of time in the universe existence.

Those who advance the Big bang theory believe that the universe came to be 10-20 billion years ago when a huge blast resulted into the formation of the universe and all its energy, matter, time and space formed from an old and unexplained type of energy. After the Big Bang, the tiny mass expended instantly to form the universe. They believe that the formation was not final and that the universe continues to expand slowly.

Even the scientists don’t know exactly what happened to the universe after the Big Bang. Most of them speculate that as the matter cooled, new elements formed and then condensed to form the galaxies and stars found in the universe.

Observing Dark Matter

Posted on the February 1st, 2009 under The Universe by Aaron

In the early 1930′s, Fritz Zwicky observed that some parts of very distant galaxies moved much to fast to contain only ordinary matter. He introduced the term ‘dark matter’ and surmised that it was this that held the clusters of galaxies together. However, it was not possible to actually see dark matter for around 70 years following his discoveries. However, as our understanding of the universe has progressed, astronomers have been able to use ground-based telescopes and satellite images to observe the separation of dark and visible matter. It is this separation which causes the motion of those distant galaxies formed over 100 million years ago when 2 different galaxy clusters approximately 3 billion light years away actually passed through each other travelling at around 10 million miles per hour.

One method of explaining this event is to picture in your mind’s eye two large groups of people each group walking in an opposite direction or a direct collision course. There would be those people in the groups who would be totally uninterested in the other group and would not speak to or acknowledge anyone. They would simply keep walking trying to get where they are headed. However, others would want to stop and interact with the others. As a result, the two crowds would begin to merge together in the middle to form a larger group, but there is a smaller group at each end which has forged ahead and separated themselves from the main group. This is what the astronomers are seeing.