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For example, galaxies that are farther than the Hubble radius, approximately 4.5 gigaparsecs or 14.7 billion light-years, away from us have a recession speed that is faster than the speed of light. Visibility of these objects depends on the exact expansion history of the universe.
The earliest and most direct observational evidence of the validity of the theory are the expansion of the universe according to Hubble's law (as indicated by the redshifts of galaxies), discovery and measurement of the cosmic microwave background and the relative abundances of light elements produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN).
The theory explains that the universe will expand until all matter decays and ultimately turns to light. Since nothing in the universe would have any time or distance scale associated with it, the universe becomes identical with the Big Bang, resulting in a type of Big Crunch that becomes the next Big Bang, thus perpetuating the next cycle. [21]
A cyclic model (or oscillating model) is any of several cosmological models in which the universe follows infinite, or indefinite, self-sustaining cycles. For example, the oscillating universe theory briefly considered by Albert Einstein in 1930 theorized a universe following an eternal series of oscillations, each beginning with a Big Bang and ending with a Big Crunch; in the interim, the ...
According to the theory of cosmic inflation, the very early universe underwent a period of very rapid, quasi-exponential expansion.While the time-scale for this period of expansion was far shorter than that of the existing expansion, this was a period of accelerated expansion with some similarities to the current epoch.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 13 December 2024. Hypothesis about life in the universe For the concept of a fine-tuned Earth, see Rare Earth hypothesis. Part of a series on Physical cosmology Big Bang · Universe Age of the universe Chronology of the universe Early universe Inflation · Nucleosynthesis Backgrounds Gravitational wave ...
The expansion of the universe is parameterized by a dimensionless scale factor = (with time counted from the birth of the universe), defined relative to the present time, so = =; the usual convention in cosmology is that subscript 0 denotes present-day values, so denotes the age of the universe.
Current observations suggest that the expansion of the universe will continue forever. The prevailing theory is that the universe will cool as it expands, eventually becoming too cold to sustain life. For this reason, this future scenario once popularly called "Heat Death" is now known as the "Big Chill" or "Big Freeze". [1] [2]