A big-bang theory gets a big boost: Evidence that vast cosmos was created in split second

[Penny Lane 8,159]

In the beginning, the universe got very big very fast, transforming itself in a fraction of an instant from something almost infinitesimally small to something imponderably vast, a cosmos so huge that no one will ever be able to see it all.

This is the premise of an idea called cosmic inflation — a powerful twist on the big-bang theory — and Monday it received a major boost from an experiment at the South Pole called BICEP2. A team of astronomers led by John Kovac of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that it had detected ripples from gravitational waves created in a violent inflationary event at the dawn of time.

“We’re very excited to present our results because they seem to match the prediction of the theory so closely,” Kovac said in an interview. “But it’s the case that science can never actually prove a theory to be true. There could always be an alternative explanation that we haven’t been clever enough to think of.”

The reaction in the scientific community was cautiously exultant. The new result was hailed as potentially one of the biggest discoveries of the past two decades.

Cosmology, the study of the universe on the largest scales, has already been roiled by the 1998 discovery that the cosmos is not merely expanding but doing so at an accelerating rate, because of what has been called “dark energy.” Just as that discovery has implications for the ultimate fate of the universe, this new one provides a stunning look back at the moment the universe was born.

“If real, it’s magnificent,” said Harvard astrophysicist Lisa Randall.

Lawrence Krauss, an Arizona State University theoretical physicist, said of the new result, “It gives us a new window on the universe that takes us back to almost the very beginning of time, allowing us to turn previously metaphysical questions about our origins into scientific ones.”

The measurement, however, is a difficult one. The astronomers chose the South Pole for BICEP2 and earlier experiments because the air is exceedingly dry, almost devoid of water vapor and ideal for observing subtle quirks in the ancient light pouring in from the night sky. They spent four years building the telescope, and then three years observing and analyzing the data. Kovac, 43, who has been to the South Pole 23 times, said of the conditions there, “It’s almost like being in space.”

The BICEP2 instrument sorts through the cosmic microwave background (CMB), looking for polarization of the light in a pattern that reveals the ripples of gravitational waves. The gravitational waves distort space itself, squishing and tugging the fabric of the universe. This is the first time that anyone has announced the detection of gravitational waves from the early universe.

There are other experiments by rival groups trying to detect these waves, and those efforts will continue in an attempt to confirm the results announced Monday.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-big-bang-theory-gets-a-big-boost-evidence-that-vast-cosmos-were-created-in-split-second/2014/03/17/d6c21850-adfc-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html

Science is awesome.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Yea, but what was there before the universe? If it was small and then got big really fast, what was in the space before the universe was created? Nothing? So was it a big empty space? But if it was a space it was something. The universe is infinite, so how was it created? What was there before the universe?

None of this is real, none of us are real. VJ does not exist.

I'm hoping for a big bang when my wife gets home.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Blasphemy!

[Darnell 8,478]

Penny - this is a great topic ! Thanks for sharing ! I luvs luvs luvs it when a topic is posted that will make the religious creationist whack-a-moles pop up and complain.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You !!!

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Speaking of whack a moles....................

[Darnell 8,478]

Uncle Spookies, is that you ? What happen to yer Whack-A-Sheeps ?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Uncle Spookies, is that you ? What happen to yer Whack-A-Sheeps ?

What a man does with his sheep in the privacy of his closet stays in the closet.

[Darnell 8,478]

OK Uncle Spookies -

but do report back when you come up for air again, after yer wife gets home.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

How can there be a beginning of time? Pick the point where it started and what was there an hour before that? See, you can't do it. Time has always been, but there is time before there was time. You can't pick a point and say that's when time started because there was a time before that happened. See what I mean? And when there was nothing, it was still something. And when it ends, there will still be something.

I've got a headache now.

[Darnell 8,478]

sidereal motion, when did it start? big bang, baby !!!

That's wot I tell my religionists cadre, but they still keep inviting me over for beer and discussions. I'm wearing em down, it's a great thing !!!!

[ready4ONE 5,400]

First there was proof camels didn't exist in the ME in Biblical times, and now this. Why does science always win?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

First there was proof camels didn't exist in the ME in Biblical times, and now this. Why does science always win?

But it's all a big lie to discredit the truth. Don't you see?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

What did science win?

[Operator 1,927]

[JohnR! 5,495]

First there was proof camels didn't exist in the ME in Biblical times, and now this. Why does science always win?

The reason is simple. Science remains true, regardless of whether one believes in it.