The Seven Wonders of the Universe: Part 3

The Big Bang

I was watching a documentary program the other day and it kept talking about this “huge explosion that created the universe” and referring to the Big Bang. The writer really should have known better, since I know the person is knowledgeable in astronomy, and presumably this writer knows that the creation event really was NOT an explosion. Yet, he/she persisted in using an incorrect term, presumably because “explosion” sounds more dramatic and exciting than “the beginning of expansion of space and time.” And, to be somewhat fair, it is pretty difficult to illustrate the event, so artists just keep on building these flashy explosions and point to them as what the Big Bang might have been like. It may be easy, but it’s not quite correct.

So, what was the Big Bang?

The Big Bang was the beginning of the expansion of space and time. Period. Current theories about this era in cosmic history says little about what was going on before it occurred, although that Pre-BB time is also a time of intense interest to astrophysicists and cosmologists (scientists who study the physics of the cosmos and its origins).

In a sense, we are still inside the creation event of the universe, being carried along as space expands and the cosmic clock ticks along as it has been doing since T=zero. It’s a story that has taken more 13.7 billion years to unfold, and is still occurring.

The universe began as a tiny point of space filled with seething energy. That space began to expand, carrying the energy with it. Over time, things began to cool down, and the first particles of matter condensed out of the energy cloud that was being carried along by the expansion of space. Those particles begat atoms, and molecules, and eventually the building blocks of stars and galaxies.

The microwave sky, showing the last echoes of radiation from the creation of the universe. The image reveals 13.7 billion year old temperature fluctuations (shown as color differences) that correspond to the seeds that grew to become the galaxies.

If you want to talk about wonders of the universe, surely its formation from a seething energy “ball” is wondrous. But, more than that, we can actually see flickers from that time in a wash of cool radiation called the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

So, as my third wonder of the universe, I give you a window onto its creation, more than 13.7 billion years agp. Whatever we call it, it’s one of the most intensely interesting topics in astronomy and cosmology today.

The Seven Wonders of the Universe: Part 2

Earth

Our home planet

You’d think we’d know all about our home planet. After all, we live on it. And, we do know quite a bit, just from walking its surface, sailing its oceans, and flying in its atmosphere. But, as any traveller knows, distance lends perspective. It gives us new insights into familiar places, simply by virtue of the fact that we are far away and can perceive home as a place “back there.” You see a bigger picture of your hometown when you’re far away from it. And, so it’s the same with our planet.

Voyager's view of Earth from the "edge" of the solar system -- the blue dot in the right-most "ray" of light.

I’ve been working on a project focused on our planet’s climate,and so I keep returning to these pictures taken from well away from Earth’s surface. The first thing you notice is the water. And then, the clouds. Which, in our case, also speak of water, but in droplet form suspended in our atmosphere. Here and there the continents and islands peek out, and if you’re close enough, you can see the lush green of plant life. It’s home, but it’s also part of the larger universe. The same laws of physics and astrophysics that operate across the cosmos govern our solar system and home planet. What we observe here we can try to find elsewhere. And if we do find watery, lifebearing planets elsewhere, we may understand them better simply by virtue of studying our own world from a distance, too. And, in a sense, what we find at THOSE worlds, will also help us understand our own.

Earth is an amazing find in a universe populated mostly with galaxies studded with stars and nebulae. There are other planets out there, and most likely many with water and life. We haven’t found the life-bearing ones yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Until we do, that pale blue dot in the middle of the ray of light on the right is a rarity. It’s also one of my choices for one of the seven wonders of the universe.

The Seven Wonders of the Universe: Part 1

Mars

Mars as seen by Global Surveyor on 26 September 2006

So, the newest set of Seven Wonders of the World has been voted upon. They’re all things that humans built, which is great. But, there are other wonders out there, as Q might say, enough to satiate even the most jaded soul. Im calling mine the Seven Wonders of the Universe, and I’m going to post my list over the next 7 entries.

Yes, I know I just talked about Mars a couple of entries ago. So, it’s not surprising, is it, that I’d think Mars is one of the seven wonders of the universe. Here’s why: water. No, there’s not any obvious water there now flowing in rivers, or lying around in ponds or lakes or oceans. But, there IS water in the ice caps and most likely locked underground as permafrost. And, the evidence for past water action is all over the surface of this dry and dusty desert planet.

The Mars Spirit Rover at Husband Hill on Mars.

The Mars rovers are excavating and exploring the surface of the planet, turning over all kinds of rock and mineral evidence for the existence of water (flowing and otherwise) on Mars now and in the past. Just looking at Mars through the eyes of these rovers (and the Pathfinder before it, and the orbiting mappers and imagers we have there now) is a kind of secondary wonder that defines our modern age of technology.

So, I give you Mars. One of the seven wonders of the universe because it is teaching us a lot about other rocky planets, giving us insight into our own planet, and showing us a possible place for future human exploration.

Fine-grained silica churned up by the Mars Spirit rover is some of the best evidence yet for a water-rich environment on Mars.