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----------------------- 1853 - What caused Cosmic Inflation?
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- In 2003 The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite measured slight temperature variations in the haze of radio microwaves that were ubiquitous in all directions. This radiation is like the blue sky but with much wider microwave wavelengths than blue light wavelengths.
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- The temperature variations correspond to the first stars in the Cosmos that appeared 200,000,000 years after the Big Bang.
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- The microwave data supported the theory that the Universe is expanding at an ever faster rate. It permitted calculations for the age, geometry, composition, and weight of the Universe.
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- The Universe is 13.7 billion years old. ( with error bars between 13.63 BY to 13.84 BY)
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- The weight of the Universe is 4% atoms, 23% Dark Matter, and 73% Dark Energy. (Remember: matter and energy are 2 forms of the same thing, Energy = mass * c^2.
c^2 is the speed of light squared.)
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- The Universe is geometrically “ flat”, meaning it is neither spherical or saddle shaped in its geometry. In a flat universe parallel lines never meet.
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- These microwaves in the Cosmic Background were first discovered in 1965. They today represent a “snap shot” picture of the Universe as it was cooling to the point where neutral hydrogen and helium atoms could first form. The Universe was only 380,000 years old. The Universe at that point became neutral charge and became transparent to light. Up to that point the Universe was opaque, a sea of charged particles called a plasma. It was like looking into a cloud where you only see the white surface.
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- The measurements made were not just variations of brightness and temperatures but also polarization of these microwaves. Like skipping off a lake where Polaroid sunglasses work so well, here electric and magnetic fields constituting light were bouncing off an electrified gas. The light was polarized having a preference to vibrate in a particular plane, horizontal or vertical planes.
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- Later in the evolution of the Universe polarization should occur again when the ultraviolet light of the first stars stripped electrons from the hydrogen atoms. Those electrons scattered the cosmic microwaves, polarizing them for a second time. This would have happened when the Universe was about 800,000,000 years old.
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- The first stars in the Universe were monsters, 100 times as massive as our Sun. They burned out rapidly and violently as supernovae. Massive stars have shorter life spans than smaller stars. Their massive gravity causes then to burn hotter and exhaust their fuel quicker.
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- When a supernova explodes hydrogen and helium become fused into the heavier elements like carbon and oxygen in the high temperatures, high pressure explosions. These new elements were spread into empty space to become the material for future generation stars and future supernovae.
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- The microwave temperature data was also used to rule out many other Cosmic Inflation theories. Cosmic Inflation that we understand today was an enormous growth spurt during the first trillionth of a trillionth of a second ( 10^-24 seconds), where a powerful unknown anti-gravity field expanded space at an exponential rate.
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- There is still not a clear explanation for why or how Cosmic Inflation happened. It is still open for discovery. Precision cosmology from the data collected by WMAP is a major step forward.
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- Stay tuned, an announcement will be made shortly. Maybe my nephew or granddaughter will be the ones making this announcement.
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- Request these Reviews to learn more:
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- #1854 - to learn more about cosmic inflation.
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- #1852 - about how astronomers measured cosmic inflation.
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- #1851 - about how we measured velocities in an expanding Universe.
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------- Friday, April 8, 2016 -----
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