The universe has been expanding and cooling from an early state of extremely high temperature and density.
The Big Bang Theory is the leading scientific model of the universeās origin and evolution. It states that the universe expanded from an extremely hot, dense early state approximately 13.787 billion years ago. Modern versions include cosmic inflation, a brief period of accelerated expansion that explains the universeās large-scale uniformity and near-flat geometry. After inflation and reheating, the universe cooled, allowing subatomic particles, atomic nuclei, atoms, stars, galaxies, and larger cosmic structures to form. The theory is supported by several independent observations, including the expansion and redshift of galaxies, the cosmic microwave background radiation, the abundance of light elements, and the large-scale structure of the universe. Its development involved contributions from Alexander Friedmann, Georges LemaĆ®tre, Edwin Hubble, and others. The current Lambda-CDM model also includes dark matter and dark energy, although the nature of these components, the matterāantimatter imbalance, and conditions before the earliest known stages remain unresolved questions.
The universe has been expanding and cooling from an early state of extremely high temperature and density.
Cosmic inflation explains the observed uniformity and near-flatness of the universe and seeded large-scale cosmic structure.
The cosmic microwave background, galaxy redshifts, light-element abundances, and galaxy structure provide strong evidence for the theory.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced mostly hydrogen along with helium and small amounts of lithium during the first few minutes.
Gravity, aided by dark matter, led to the formation of stars, galaxies, and other astronomical structures after recombination.
The universeās present energy budget is dominated by dark energy, with smaller contributions from dark matter and ordinary matter.
Important open problems include the nature of dark matter and dark energy, baryon asymmetry, and the physics of the earliest universe.
A cosmological model describing the expansion and evolution of the universe from an early hot, dense state.
A brief period of extremely rapid expansion in the early universe that explains its large-scale uniformity and flatness.
Faint, nearly uniform radiation released when the early universe became transparent about 380,000 years after its expansion began.
The early-universe process in which protons and neutrons combined to form light atomic nuclei, primarily hydrogen and helium.
The epoch when electrons combined with atomic nuclei to form neutral atoms, allowing light to travel freely through the universe.
Matter that does not emit or absorb detectable light but whose gravitational effects influence galaxies and cosmic structure.
A poorly understood component of the universe associated with the observed accelerated expansion of space.
The relationship showing that galaxies generally recede from Earth faster as their distance increases.
The standard cosmological model combining a cosmological constant representing dark energy with cold dark matter, ordinary matter, and an expanding universe.
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