Opinion | The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel
Opinion | The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel
Is cosmology in crisis?
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In my 20’s I was super curious and wanted to learn as much as I can about the universe. In my 30’s I thought I was starting to have things figured out. In my 40’s? I don’t know shit and everything I thought I was right about is probably wrong 😅
I’ve accepted is not about figuring it out. It’s about the fun of doing so along the way. Gotta do something to fill out this time while we are here.
I don’t know shit and everything I thought I was right about is probably wrong
Almost everyone once thought the big bang was the beginning of everything and started from a singularity. Now we know that there never was any singularity and that cosmic inflation preceded and set up the big bang.
I didn't realize our theories have changed regarding this. Do you have a good source for an idiot like me?
There was a prior state of the universe before the big bang known as "cosmic inflation". This prior state lasted an unknown length of time.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/evidence-universe-before-big-bang/
We also know the now observable universe contained a significant amount of space at the time of the big bang. It was a minimum of 2 meters in diameter, and probably much bigger. Of course, the full universe would have been far bigger.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/07/27/there-was-no-big-bang-singularity/
Now it *looks like.
It really feels like a game of forced perspective, in a very literal sense. I think it was prior to Edwin Hubble that we thought certain fuzzy blobs in the sky were nebulae, until the type 1a supernova discovery tweaked our angle of view, the fuzzy blobs turned out to be distant galaxies in their own right, and suddenly the whole damn universe got deeper.
Space is a jerk. It's my favorite. MOAR secrets, pls
Cosmology seems to blow every 20-30 years it seems. It's worth noting that accelerating expansion of the universe was only discovered in 1998. It wouldn't be a surprise if the books get rewritten or massively altered again.