Earth is a beautiful creation, where life exists. However, when we look at the Universe, Earth is minuscule, just a speck within this vast cosmos. The Universe is an unsolved puzzle filled with mysteries, and astronomers continuously strive to unravel its secrets. They have made significant progress, allowing us to understand questions about the Universe’s nature and its origin.
In today’s article, you will acquire information related to the Universe and discover how the Universe was formed. You will also learn about what the Universe is made of and its vastness. So, let’s begin and explore the complete details about what the Universe is.
Table of Contents
Universe :
The universe is everything, where you, I, we, our Earth, the Sun, stars, and the sky, everything is included. The entire space and all substances and energy present in space are part of this universe. Time is also included in it.
Though the universe may seem distant, in reality, it is only a few kilometers away from us (approximately 100 kilometers). This is also called outer space. Whether we are walking, sleeping, or eating, this outer space is just a short distance above us.
Not only above, but it is also below our feet, at a distance of about 12,800 kilometers. That is, in the opposite direction of Earth, where outer space is filled with endless emptiness and harmful radiation.
Technically speaking, we are currently present in space. Humans perceive outer space as separate from Earth, as if we are here and it is there. But in reality, Earth is a planet, and like other planets, it is part of the universe in space. Earth’s surface is a hospitable place for life, but for the humans and beings living on Earth, the entire universe is a hostile and relentless environment.
How did the universe originate or how was the universe created?
The history and expansion of the universe are widely accepted as the Big Bang Model, which explains that the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago as a hot, dense point. The Big Bang theory suggests that there was no explosion in space, as the name implies. Rather, researchers believe that space was present everywhere in the universe.
According to the Big Bang theory, the universe was born as a very hot and very dense single point in space. Before this, events in the universe are uncertain, according to cosmologists. However, scientists are working on creating a clear picture of the early universe with complex missions, Earth-based telescopes, and intricate calculations. The most crucial information for this comes from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which contains the residual glow of light and radiation left over from the Big Bang.
In 2021, NASA initiated the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission to measure radiation from the Cosmic Microwave Background and study the conditions present in the early universe. Among other discoveries, WMAP was capable of determining the age of the universe, which is approximately 13.7 billion years.
In its youth, the universe experienced an incredible expansion rate. During this period of expansion, known as inflation, the universe grew rapidly and became at least 90 times larger in size. The universe continued to expand, and as it expanded, it cooled and matter was formed. After inflation, the universe continued to grow steadily, but at a much slower pace.
As space expanded, the universe cooled, and the creation of matter occurred. Within the first 3 minutes of universe formation, light chemical elements were created. As the universe expanded, it continued to cool, and the collision of protons and neutrons produced deuterium, which is an isotope of hydrogen. Most of the deuterium combines to form helium.
Apart from the cooling, another significant event occurred in the early stages of the universe. During the phase of expansion, known as inflation, the universe rapidly increased in size, becoming at least 90 times larger. The expansion of the universe continued, and as it expanded, it became cooler and less dense. After inflation, the universe continued to grow at a much slower rate.
As space expanded, the universe cooled, and matter was created. The universe’s expansion was accompanied by the production of light elements within the first 3 minutes of its existence. As the universe expanded, it continued to cool, and the collision of protons and neutrons produced deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. Deuterium, in combination with other processes, eventually forms helium.
For approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the remaining heat from the creation of the universe made it glow brightly. Particles, with sufficient force, collided in a dense, transparent plasma of protons, neutrons, and electrons, scattering light like mist.
About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the sufficient cooling of matter allowed for the creation of neutral (transparent) atoms by binding electrons to nuclei from the primordial soup. This phase is called recombination, and due to the absorption of free electrons, the universe became transparent.
At that time, the spread light can now be detected as radiation in today’s cosmic microwave background.
However, after the age of recombination, there came a period of darkness before the stars and other luminous objects. Approximately 400 million years later, the universe began to emerge from darkness. This period is known as the age of reionization. It is believed that the dynamic phase lasted for about half a billion years, but based on new observations, scientists believe that the process of reionization happened even more rapidly than previously thought.
During this time, clusters of gases collapsed, giving rise to the formation of early stars and galaxies. The ultraviolet radiation from these events cleared and ionized most of the surrounding intergalactic hydrogen gas. The process of reionization, along with the clearing of murky hydrogen gas, made the universe transparent for cosmic radiation.
Astronomers study the characteristics of the early universe by observing the most distant and ancient galaxies in the far reaches of the cosmos. Similarly, through the study of cosmic microwave background, astronomers can work backward to connect events that occurred in the early universe.
Formation of the Solar System:
Approximately 9 billion years after the Big Bang, the estimated time for the creation of our solar system is considered. This makes it around 4.6 billion years old. According to current estimates, the Sun is one of about 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy and orbits the galactic core at a distance of approximately 25,000 light-years.
Many scientists believe that the Sun and the rest of our solar system were formed from a vast, rotating cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. Due to gravity, the nebula collapsed and began to rotate rapidly, flattening into a disk. During this phase, most of the material was pulled toward the center to form the Sun.
The universe is continually expanding:
In the year 1920, astronomer Edwin Hubble made a revolutionary discovery about the universe. Using his newly built telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles, he found that the universe is not static but expanding.
Decades later, in 1998, the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble, studied extremely distant supernovas and discovered that the universe was expanding much more slowly in the past than it is today. This discovery was quite surprising, as it had long been assumed that the gravitational attraction of matter in the universe could either slow down or contract its expansion.
Mysterious Dark Matter and Dark Energy:
Between the 1960s and 1970s, astronomers began to consider that there might be more mass in the universe than what was visible. Astronomer Vera Rubin observed the motion of stars at various locations in galaxies. According to basic Newtonian physics, stars in the outer regions of a galaxy should orbit more slowly than those near the center. However, Rubin found no difference in the speeds of stars within galaxies and those on the outskirts.
This mysterious and invisible substance came to be known as dark matter. The existence of dark matter is inferred based on the gravitational forces applied to regular matter. One hypothesis suggests that this mysterious substance could be formed by unique particles that do not interact with light or regular matter, making it challenging to detect.
Dark energy is considered a strange and inexplicable force that is causing the universe to continuously expand at an accelerating rate. However, it remains a mystery for scientists, and research is ongoing. Despite knowing much about the universe, there are still several unresolved mysteries that pose numerous questions for scientists. Dark energy and dark matter are the two biggest unsolved mysteries, but astronomers continue to investigate the beginning of the universe in the hope of better understanding it.
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What is the universe made of?
As we have learned, the universe contains all forms of energy and matter. The majority of the substances observable in the universe are made up of various atoms of hydrogen, which is a simple atomic element consisting of just one electron and one proton. If a neutron is present in the atom, it is called deuterium. Molecules are formed when two or more atoms share electrons. Pressing together some tons of carbon, silica, oxygen, ice, and some metals results in the formation of a small planet. Alternatively, gathering 333,000 Earth masses of hydrogen and helium gives rise to a star like our Sun.
For practical purposes, humans categorize clusters of substances based on their specific characteristics. Galaxies, groups of stars, planets, dwarf planets, moons, comets, asteroids, meteoroids—all these are collections of substances with distinct features that adhere to the same natural laws.
Scientists have started to combine these clusters of matter, and the figures that emerge are astonishing. Our Milky Way galaxy alone contains at least 100 billion stars, and there are approximately 100 billion galaxies observable in the known universe. If all galaxies were of the same size, there would be around 10 sextillion (or 10^22) stars in the observable universe.
According to scientists, there is also a conglomerate of matter and energy in the universe that we cannot directly see. Together, all the stars, planets, black holes, etc., represent less than 5% of the total matter in the universe. The remaining 27% is dark matter, and 68% is dark energy, both of which cannot be directly understood from a distance.
The universe, as we understand it, would not function without the presence of dark matter and dark energy. They are termed ‘dark’ because scientists currently cannot observe them clearly. The universe we perceive is just a fraction of the complete picture.
How big is the universe?
The size of the observable universe is approximately 28.5 gigaparsecs, which is about 93 billion light-years or, in simpler terms, 93,000 million light-years. Scientists have observed about 14.26 gigaparsecs or 46,500 million light-years of this observable universe. NASA has prepared an image of this observable universe using telescopes, radars, space telescopes, and radio telescopes from around the world.
What is the theory of the origin of the universe?
There are several theories regarding the origin of the universe, but the most prevalent and accepted theory is the Big Bang theory. It is also known as the ‘Expanded Universe Hypothesis.’ George Lemaître first proposed the Big Bang theory, and later, in 1967, Robert Wagoner presented an explanation of this theory. The confirmation of the Big Bang theory has also been made through the Doppler effect.
Conclusion:
I hope you have understood well what the universe is and how it originated. I have made every effort to provide you with all the information related to the universe so that you do not need to go to any other website for information on this topic. If you liked this information or learned something new, please share it on other social media networks.
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