Friday, March 17, 2006

Ringside Seat to the Universe's First Split Second


Time Line of the Universe -- The expansion of the universe over most
of it's history has been relatively gradual. The notion that a rapid
period "inflation" preceded the Big Bang expansion was first
put forth 25 years ago. The new WMAP observations favor specific
inflation scenarios over other long held ideas.

Image source: NASA


Via NASA.

You don't get much closer to the big bang than this.

Scientists peering back to the oldest light in the universe have evidence to support the concept of inflation, which poses that the universe expanded many trillion times its size faster than a snap of the fingers at the outset of the big bang.

We're talking about when the universe was less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old. In that crucial split second, changes occurred that allowed for the creation of stars and galaxies hundreds of millions of years later.

More here.

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