What is the direction in which event 300000 years from Bigbang observed?

Question

I read news that scientists observed early universe? Which direction they have observed? If it was observed in particular direction then it contradicts that Big Bang happened everywhere not in a particular place? It it can be observed in all directions then how come star formation 300000 years from big bang can be observed in all directions but galaxies which was formed billions of years after big bang can be observed only in one direction?

Answer 1

about 380 000 years after the big bang, the universe had cooled enough for electrons and atomic nuclei to combine. when this happened, light could pass unhindered because atoms have no electric charge. electrons and atomic nuclei have electric charges so they scattered light. when it was 380 000 years old, the universe was a temperature of about 3 000 kelvins, and the light was mostly visible light. today, we see this light stretched to microwave wavelengths and a associated temperature of 2.7 kelvins (2.7 centigrade above absolute zero). this is called the cosmic microwave background, and it is observed in every direction we look.

http://universeadventure.org/
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147

Answer 2

This is a paradox in cosmology. Some galaxies are older than some of the stars which make them up. How can this be? As one physicist put it, "One shouldn't be older than ones parent." To answer your original question, the direction can be determined by observing the Doppler shift of the light source. Also, 300,000 years after the Big Bang is still very very early in the formation of the universe and any event at that age cannot be observed, only theorized.

Answer 3

The Big Bang does not have any "direction" because it happened everywhere in the universe. In the earliest tiny fractions of a second, the entire Universe was smaller than a subatomic particle. According to current theory, from 10^-60 seconds until about 10^-30 seconds after the Big Bang, the Inflationary Period occured. In this tiny fraction of a second, the newly formed Universe expanded (much faster than the speed of light) from far smaller than an atom to larger than the current size of the solar system.

This sounds physically impossible, because massive objects cannot travel faster than the speed of light. But it's important to realize that this was not movement THROUGH space; rather, it was the expansion of space ITSELF and so relativistic limitations do not apply. This expansion continued (at a much slower rate) after the inflationary period, and in fact continues to this day.

So, while the Big Bang was a single point event (or nearly so) it occupied the entirety of the Universe and so you cannot say "the Big Bang happened at this location" as opposed to any other location. Indeed, the very word "location" (which implies space-time) has no meaning at the Big Bang, because spacetime came into existence "after" that (whatever THAT means)!

Now, it's possible to say events that happened AFTER the Big Bang have a location, but some events happened concurrently (again, "whatever THAT means") throughout space. For example, as the energy of space decreased, space underwent a phase change and became transparent. Before that point in time it's not possible to see what was happening because space was opaque. Hence, it is impossible to directly view the Big Bang and it is meaningless to ask what happened "before", just as it is meaningless to ask what is "outside" the Universe today.

Answer 4

I don't know the article but clearly they didn't 'observe' the actual event (the time travel story would have been bigger). I assume they were able to recreate part of the theory in a lab.

Theoretically you could observe the big bang from numerous angles (directions) as it would go outward but I doubt you would survive it :-)

Answer 5

There is no contradiction. Galaxies are seen in all directions, too.

Answer 6

THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE,, SPACE IS EXPANDIND AT A FAST RATE,, THEY KNOW THIS BY LOOKING AT STARS MILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS AWAY AND THE FURTHER THEY LOOK THE NEWER THE STARS ARE

Answer 7

the big bang didn't happen though.