One way to understand the universe today would be to look at it from the beginning, starting from the big bang. Although it is called the Big Bang Theory, cosmic background radiation is proof of the early universe, containing everything found in our entire universe, including the different gravitational and electromagnetic forces, planets and ourselves, in a small condensed area. As remnants of the Big Bang Theory, the idea first came about when Edwin Hubble discovered that the distance of galaxies was increasing, implying that the universe must have once been incredibly denser and hotter and shown by redshift. This left over radiation is considered to be a background because it can be found in all directions, measured in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum and even used in our own homes to excite molecules in food.
Just as how we cannot see the microwaves with our eye, cosmic background radiation can be mapped our by the satellite COBE. The pictures show different temperatures throughout and around our galaxy, blue showing a temperature of 0 kelvin and red showing a temperature of 4 kelvin. These fluctuations are believed to be sort of trace fluctuations of the density from the Big Bang, allowing us to better understand the origins of the universe. Now, they appear to have reached a thermal equilibrium, cooled from what was once a hot, condensed body.
Just recently, there has been a discovery of radiation that has been left moments after the big bang occurred, strongly supporting the idea of inflation. Gravitational dust can have a similar effect, but if this discovery is proven to be correctly identified, it could be revolutionary. Scientists are now beginning to further understand our universe, and soon could answer questions such as "will the universe expand forever?" or "where did the particles from the big bang come from in the first place?"
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26605974
http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_cosmo_fluct.html
Jane, I really enjoyed reading your post and I think that it brings up some interesting ideas and questions. This cosmic background radiation that is being mapped by the COBE satellite is so intriguing in that it can detect the radiation and put this data into a map we can easily observe, leading to discoveries supporting the Big Bang Theory. While the diagram shows that these density fluctuations have reached equilibrium, it is fascinating to wait and see what may happen to other planets and their implications.
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog post. It was a great read. You bring up an interesting scenario at the end that I would like to extrapolate on. What are the implications of answering questions such as, "will the universe expand forever" or "where did the particles from the big bang come from in the first place?" It seems to me that people would be extremely skeptical of any information related to answering these questions. There would also be a lot less room for religious beliefs. Most importantly, if we do answer these questions, would it lead to an existential crisis of many people wondering what the purpose of life is? It makes me wonder if we're ready to answer these questions.
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