Cosmology: Study of the universe as a whole, including the Big our sun will be relatively rare, making the

e, making the universe

Bang theory, dark matter, and dark energy. a far less hospitable place for observers like us.

 In 1922 the Russian theorist Alexander A. Friedmann

realized that Einstein’s universe is unstable; the
Cosmology
slightest perturbation would cause it to expand or
 Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that involves contract. At that time, Vesto M. Slipher of Lowell
the origin and evolution of the universe, from the Big Observatory was collecting the first evidence that
Bang to today and on into the future. galaxies are actually moving apart. Then, in 1929, the
eminent astronomer Edwin P. Hubble showed that the
 According to NASA(opens in new tab), the definition
rate a galaxy is moving away from us is roughly
of cosmology is "the scientific study of the large scale proportional to its distance from us.
properties of the universe as a whole."
 Cosmologists puzzle over exotic concepts like string
theory, dark matter and dark energy and whether there
is one universe or many (sometimes called
the multiverse). While other aspects astronomy deal
with individual objects and phenomena or collections of
objects, cosmology spans the entire universe from birth
to death, with a wealth of mysteries at every stage.
 In modern science, cosmology is divided into two
branches. Observational cosmology studies the
universe using telescopes and other equipment to

examine the direct evidence of the universe’s
 MULTIPLE IMAGES of a distant quasar (left) are the
development and structure. Physical cosmology studies result of an effect known as gravitational lensing. The
the structures and development of the universe and the effect occurs when light from a distant object is bent by
physics that created them. It uses a mix of theory and the gravitational field of an intervening galaxy. In this
experiments to construct and research cosmological case, the galaxy, which is visible in the center, produces
models. These models are sometimes called four images of the quasar. The photograph was
“cosmologies.” They incorporate theories and the produced using the Hubble telescope.
information collected by observational cosmology.  The existence of an expanding universe implies that the
cosmos has evolved from a dense concentration of
matter into the present broadly spread distribution of
galaxies. Fred Hoyle, an English cosmologist, was the
The evolution of the universe
first to call this process the big bang. Hoyle intended to
• The universe began to expand and cool rapidly 15 disparage the theory, but the name was so catchy it
billion years ago, resulting in the formation of gained popularity. It is somewhat misleading, however,
quarks, neutrons, protons, and atomic nuclei. to describe the expansion as some type of explosion of
• Neutral atoms then coalesced into gas clouds, matter away from some particular point in space
which later evolved into stars.  That is not the picture at all: in Einstein’s universe the
• By the time the universe had expanded to one fifth concept of space and the distribution of matter are
its present size, the stars had formed groups intimately linked; the observed expansion of the system
recognizable as young galaxies. of galaxies reveals the unfolding of space itself. An
• When the universe was half its present size, essential feature of the theory is that the average density
nuclear reactions in stars had produced most of the in space declines as the universe expands; the
heavy elements from which terrestrial planets were distribution of matter forms no observable edge. In an
made. Our solar system is relatively young: it explosion the fastest particles move out into empty
formed five billion years ago, when the universe space, but in the big bang cosmology, particles
was two thirds its present size. Over time the uniformly fill all space. The expansion of the universe
formation of stars has consumed the supply of gas has had little influence on the size of galaxies or even
in galaxies, and hence the population of stars is clusters of galaxies that are bound by gravity; space is
waning. Fifteen billion years from now stars like simply opening up between them. In this sense, the
expansion is similar to a rising loaf of raisin bread. The
 dough is analogous to space, and the raisins, to clusters  Then in the hadron epoch the universe cooled down
of galaxies. As the dough expands, the raisins move enough for quarks to bind together and form protons
apart. Moreover, the speed with which any two raisins and neutrons
move apart is directly and positively related to the  In the lepton and nuclear epoch the radiation eras last
amount of dough separating them.
two stages the protons and neurtrons underwent a
 The evidence for the expansion of the universe has been
significant change they fused and created a nuclei and
accumulating for some 60 years. The first important
in doing so they created the first checmical element in
clue is the redshift. A galaxy emits or absorbs some
wavelengths of light more strongly than others. If the the universe helium
galaxy is moving away from us, these emission and  The matter era the universe new ability to form
absorption features are shifted to longer wavelengths— elements the building blocks of matter, cued the matter
that is, they become redder as the recession velocity era
increases. This phenomenon is known as the redshift.  The matter era is defined by the presence and
predominance of matter in the universe it features three
epochs that span billions of years the vast majority of
The origin of the universe
universe life span and includes the present day.
 The bigbang theory began as a hot and infinitely dense  The first is the atomic epoch in this stage the universe
point. temperature cooled down enough for electrons to attach
 Only few millimeters wide it is similar to a supercharge nuclei for the first time called recombination this
block whole process helped create the universe second element
 This tiny singulary violently exploded and from this hydrogen
explotion matter, energy, space and time were created  This hydrogen along with helium atoms dotted the
 What happened next were two major stages of the universe with atomic clouds, within the clouds small
universe evolution called the radiation and matter era pockets of gas may had enougt gravity to cause atoms
they are define by key events that helped shape the to collect these clusters of atoms formed during the
universe. galactic epoch becomes the seedlings of galaxies
 Radiation Era named for the dominance of riadiation  Nestled inside those galaxies stars began to form and in
right after the bigbang doing so they cued the latest and current stage of the
 This era is made of smaller stages called epochs that universe development the stellar epic
occurred first tens of thousand of years
 The earliest is the plank epoch – no matter existed in
the universe at this time only energy and the forces of
nature. The super force.
 The next is grand unification epoch. Named for the
three remaining unified forces of nature. This epoch
ended when one of those forces called strong or strong
nuclear broke away
 Then the inflationary epoch began during the universe
rapidly expanded almost grew from the size of an atom
to the size of a grapefruit the universe at this time is  Humanity's understanding of the universe has evolved
piping hot and it churned with electrons, quarks and significantly over time. In the early history
other particles of astronomy, Earth was regarded as the center of all
 Then came the electroweak epoch when the last two things, with planets and stars orbiting it. In the 16th
forces electromagnetic and weak finally split off century, Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus suggested
that Earth and the other planets in the solar system in
 During the next stage the quark epoch all of the
fact orbited the sun, creating a profound shift in the
universe ingredients are present however the universe
understanding of the cosmos, according to The Royal
was still too hot and dense for sub atomic particles to
Society(opens in new tab). In the late 17th
form
century, Isaac Newton calculated how the forces
between planets — specifically the gravitational
forces — interacted.
 The dawn of the 20th century brought further insights  Thanks to Hubble, "If you put in a box all the ways that
into comprehending the vast universe. Albert dark energy might differ from the cosmological
Einstein proposed the unification of space and time in constant, that box would now be three times smaller,"
his General Theory of Relativity. In the early 1900s, cosmologist Adam Riess of the Space Telescope
scientists were debating whether the Milky Science Institute said in a statement(opens in new tab).
Way contained the whole universe within its span, or "That's progress, but we still have a long way to go to
pin down the nature of dark energy."
whether it was simply one of many collections of stars.
 NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
 Edwin Hubble calculated the distance to a fuzzy Probe(opens in new tab) (WMAP) was a spacecraft that
nebulous object in the sky and determined that it lay operated from 2001 to 2010. WMAP mapped tiny
outside of the Milky Way, proving our galaxy to be a fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background
small drop in the enormous universe, according (CMB), the ancient light from the early universe, and
to Scientific American(opens in new tab). Using determined that ordinary atoms make up only 4.6
General Relativity to lay the framework, Hubble percent of the universe, while dark matter makes up 24
measured other galaxies and determined that they were percent.
rushing away from the us, leading him to conclude that  "Lingering doubts about the existence of dark energy
the universe was not static but expanding. and the composition of the universe dissolved when the
 In recent decades, cosmologist Stephen WMAP satellite took the most detailed picture ever of
Hawking determined that the universe itself is not the cosmic microwave background," said cosmologist
infinite but has a definite size. However, it lacks a Charles Seife in the journal Science(opens in new tab).
definite boundary. This is similar to Earth; although the  The European Space Agency's Planck space
planet is finite, a person traveling around it would never mission(opens in new tab) ran from 2009 to 2013 and
find the "end" but would instead constantly circle the continued the study of the cosmic microwave
globe. Hawking also proposed that the universe would background.
not continue on forever but would eventually end.  ESA is currently developing the Euclid mission, which
 Launched in November 1989, NASA's Cosmic should launch in 2023, according to ESA's fact
Background Explorer(opens in new tab) (COBE) took sheet(opens in new tab). Euclid will study dark matter
precise measurements of radiation across the sky. The and dark energy with greater precision, tracing its
mission operated until 1993. distribution and evolution through the universe.
 Although NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is probably  "At the heart of the mission is one of the billion pound
best known for its astounding images, a primary questions of physics," the ESA's David Parker said in a
mission(opens in new tab) was cosmological. By more statement(opens in new tab).
accurately measuring the distances to Cepheid
variables, stars with a well-defined ratio between their  What came before the Big Bang?
brightness and their pulsations, Hubble helped to refine Because of the enclosed and finite nature of the
measurements regarding how the universe is expanding. universe, we cannot see "outside" of our own universe.
Since its launch, astronomers have continued to use Space and time began with the Big Bang. While there
Hubble to make cosmological measurements and refine are a number of speculations about the existence of
existing ones. other universes, there is no practical way to observe
them, and as such there will never be any evidence for
(or against!) them.
 Where did the Big Bang happen?
The Big Bang did not happen at a single point but
instead was the appearance of space and time
throughout the entire universe at once, according
to Live Science
 have formed before the first galaxies, when the universe
was about 100 million years old.

REFERENCE: https://www.space.com/16042-
cosmology.html

Dark Energy, Dark Matter

In the early 1990s, one thing was fairly certain about the
expansion of the universe. It might have enough energy density
to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little
 If other galaxies all seem to be rushing away from us,
doesn't that place us at the center of the universe? energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity
No, because if we were to travel to a distant galaxy, it was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the
would seem that all surrounding galaxies were similarly
rushing away. Think of the universe as a giant balloon. slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the universe
If you mark multiple points on the balloon, then blow it
had to slow. The universe is full of matter and the attractive
up, you would note that each point is moving away
from all of the others, though none are at the center. force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and
The expansion of the universe functions in much the
same way. the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of very distant
 How old is the universe? supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the universe was
According to data released by the Planck team in 2013,
the universe is 13.8 billion years old, give or take a actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the
hundred million years or so, according to
expansion of the universe has not been slowing due to gravity,
the Norwegian University of Life Sciences(opens in
new tab). Planck determined the age after mapping tiny as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected
temperature fluctuations in the CMB.
 "Patterns over huge patches of sky tell us about what this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing
was happening on the tiniest of scales in the moments it.
just after our universe was born," said Charles
Lawrence, the U.S. project scientist for Planck, in
a statement(opens in new tab). Eventually theorists came up with three sorts of explanations.
 Will the universe end? If so, how?
Whether or not the universe will come to an end Maybe it was a result of a long-discarded version of Einstein's
depends on its density — how spread out the matter theory of gravity, one that contained what was called a
within it might be. Scientists have calculated a "critical
density" for the universe. If its true density is greater "cosmological constant." Maybe there was some strange kind of
than their calculations, eventually the expansion of the
energy-fluid that filled space. Maybe there is something wrong
universe will slow and then, ultimately, reverse until it
collapses. However, if the density is less than the with Einstein's theory of gravity and a new theory could include
critical density, the universe will continue to expand
forever, Space.com previously reported.  some kind of field that creates this cosmic acceleration.
 Which came first, the galaxy or the stars? Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but
The post-Big Bang universe was composed
predominantly of hydrogen, with a little bit of helium they have given the solution a name. It is called dark energy.
thrown in for good measure, according to NASA(opens
in new tab). Gravity caused the hydrogen to collapse What Is Dark Energy?
inward, forming structures. According to the
Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark
University(opens in new tab), the first stars are likely to
energy there is because we know how it affects the universe's
expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an
important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe
is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest -
everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our
instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the
universe. Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn't be called
"normal" matter at all, since it is such a small fraction of the
universe. Dark Matter Core Defies Explanation
This image shows the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and
hot gas in the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. The
result could present a challenge to basic theories of dark
matter.

Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from

the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, "empty space" is
actually full of temporary ("virtual") particles that continually
form and then disappear. But when physicists tried to calculate
how much energy this would give empty space, the answer
Universe Dark Energy-1 Expanding Universe
This diagram reveals changes in the rate of expansion since the came out wrong - wrong by a lot. The number came out
universe's birth 15 billion years ago. The more shallow the
10120 times too big. That's a 1 with 120 zeros after it. It's hard to
curve, the faster the rate of expansion. The curve changes
noticeably about 7.5 billion years ago, when objects in the get an answer that bad. So the mystery continues.
universe began flying apart as a faster rate. Astronomers
theorize that the faster expansion rate is due to a mysterious,
dark force that is pulling galaxies apart. Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of
dynamical energy fluid or field, something that fills all of space
One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. but something whose effect on the expansion of the universe is
Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space
is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which the opposite of that of matter and normal energy. Some theorists
are just beginning to be understood. The first property that have named this "quintessence," after the fifth element of the
Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come
into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the Greek philosophers. But, if quintessence is the answer, we still
version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second
prediction: "empty space" can possess its own energy. Because don't know what it is like, what it interacts with, or why it
this energy is a property of space itself, it would not be diluted exists. So the mystery continues.
as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of
this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of
energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster. A last possibility is that Einstein's theory of gravity is not
Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological
constant should even be there, much less why it would have correct. That would not only affect the expansion of the
exactly the right value to cause the observed acceleration of the universe, but it would also affect the way that normal matter in
universe. 
galaxies and clusters of galaxies behaved. This fact would
provide a way to decide if the solution to the dark energy
problem is a new gravity theory or not: we could observe how lensing events to suggest that such objects to make up the
galaxies come together in clusters. But if it does turn out that a required 25% dark matter contribution.
new theory of gravity is needed, what kind of theory would it
be? How could it correctly describe the motion of the bodies in
the Solar System, as Einstein's theory is known to do, and still
give us the different prediction for the universe that we need?
There are candidate theories, but none are compelling. So the
mystery continues.

The thing that is needed to decide between dark energy

possibilities - a property of space, a new dynamic fluid, or a
Abell 2744: Pandora's Cluster Revealed
new theory of gravity - is more data, better data. One of the most complicated and dramatic collisions between
galaxy clusters ever seen is captured in this new composite
What Is Dark Matter? image of Abell 2744. The blue shows a map of the total mass
concentration (mostly dark matter).
By fitting a theoretical model of the composition of the universe
However, at this point, there are still a few dark matter
to the combined set of cosmological observations, scientists possibilities that are viable. Baryonic matter could still make up
have come up with the composition that we described above, the dark matter if it were all tied up in brown dwarfs or in small,
dense chunks of heavy elements. These possibilities are known
~68% dark energy, ~27% dark matter, ~5% normal matter. as massive compact halo objects, or "MACHOs". But the most
common view is that dark matter is not baryonic at all, but that
What is dark matter?
it is made up of other, more exotic particles like axions
or WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).
We are much more certain what dark matter is not than we are
what it is. First, it is dark, meaning that it is not in the form of
stars and planets that we see. Observations show that there is far
too little visible matter in the universe to make up the 27%
required by the observations. Second, it is not in the form of
dark clouds of normal matter, matter made up of particles called
baryons. We know this because we would be able to detect
baryonic clouds by their absorption of radiation passing through
them. Third, dark matter is not antimatter, because we do not Dark Matter Goes Missing in Oddball Galaxy
Researchers were surprised when they uncovered galaxy NGC
see the unique gamma rays that are produced when antimatter 1052-DF2 which is missing most, if not all, of its dark matter.
annihilates with matter. Finally, we can rule out large galaxy- REFERENCE: https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-
sized black holes on the basis of how many gravitational lenses areas/what-is-dark-energy

we see. High concentrations of matter bend light passing near

them from objects further away, but we do not see enough