Is there a point in the universe where the big bang originated?

Question

It would seem to make sense to me, because as I understand it, all celestial bodies which formed over time due to the big bang are now moving further and further away from each other. Can we tell where the big bang happened?

Answer 1

Yes there is a point where the big bang happened, but this point would be outside any ordinary reference frame we could conceive in 4d spacetime. We would need to locate this point from an external perspective in at least a 5th dimension. This is, of course a meaningless and futile intellectual exercise... for us 3d beings trapped in a 4d universe.

One scenario in superstring theory has the big bang happening as a by-product of the collision of two or more multidimensional branes.

In other words, yes, there is a point where the big bang originated, but it is OUTSIDE the universe: No, we cannot tell where it happened... and No, there is no point IN THE UNIVERSE where the big bang originated because from our perspective, it did indeed seem to happen everywhere at once.

Answer 2

1. The name Big Bang was given to the theory by those who were against it (Fred Hoyle, etc. of the "Steady State" theory); they knew that linking the new-fangled theory to an explosion would cause all kinds of confusion (such as: an explosion must have a trigger, it must have a centre, and whatever explosed must explode into something else).

2. By the Primeval Atom hypothesis, the origin of the universe was a condition of unbounded temperature and energy density. The entire universe was in that condition. The universe has been cooling ever since because of its expansion.

3. According to the data from WMAP (a probe taking measures of the Cosmological Microwave Background radiation for a few years), it is very likely that the universe is infinite in spatial extent.

A "small" universe (whatever that means when we "only" see a radius of 13.7 million light years) would have left tell-tale signs in the CMB radiation. These signs are not there (or, rather, they have not been detected by WMAP).

If that is true (that the universe is infinite), then that solves quite a few problems:
a) The universe was already infinite at the Planck time (this is the furthest back we can go using our knowledge of physics) and was probably already infinite at time zero (at the moment of the Big Bang);
b) The universe has no centre or, if you prefer, the centre is everywhere at once (whatever point you pick has the same distance of "universe" in any direction, therefore that point is the centre);
c) the expanding universe does not have to expand into anything, it expands into itself (take the furthest point that you can think of, multiply this distance by 10 to find a new point -- that point ten times further has always been in the universe given that the universe is infinite).

Answer 3

The big bang originated EVERYWHERE at the same time. The universe was so incredibly homogeneous back then that we still have problems explaining it. Think of a white piece of paper. Just trillions of times smoother. There was absolutely nothing to see in terms or structure back then. All the structure we see in the cosmic microwave background (and that is extremely small) came in much later.

The reason why you see a paradox is because you are not used to think in non-Euclidean space. In a Euclidean space if things are moving out like what we see in the universe, there has to be a center. But in non-Euclidean spaces there does not.

Answer 4

I am not a physist either but common sense tell us that the big bang happened in a location rather than all over, The universe is in fact expanding and it has to be expanding away from something and it is not expanding from everywhere,, it is in fact traveling outward in orientation to us and we are traveling along with it so that means we are traveling from a point in a time where it began,, Pysics can explain alot of things but in the end they are just numbers and still theorys, Dont get me wrong and think that physics are not working all im saying the explanation of the big bang happening from everywhere is only theory, no science or math can answer this question correctly, just the same as they cant explain what was there before the big bang,

Happy Holidays;

SG

Answer 5

I'm not a physics or astronomy major, but here's my take on it...

In theory, you would think there's a point where the big bang originated, so we could assume that your question is true. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that we (humans) will ever find it. I think your question is similar to another cosmological one - if the big bang created the universe, then why can't we look towards the center (using light, EMF radiation, or whatever method you want) and find out the age of the universe? Well, this method won't work for a few reasons. For starters, the universe is always expanding, so you can't look towards the center to measure distance/age without your position changing and your measurements getting skewed. Secondly, the universe is HUGE, so there's undoubtedly dust/stars/other galaxies in between Earth and the center of the Big Bang that would prohibit finding it.

Answer 6

No, because of relativity.

You would need two or three fixed points maybe 5 ot 10 billion light years apart that you sure were immovable fixed points to take measurements that would give you and idea of the wave propegation.

Since that's impossible we are stuck.

We have no accurate idea how fast the sun is moving

We have no accruate idea how fast the milkyway is moving.

We only ahve relativistic computations based on what we see from here

But under Relativity one MUST observe it from at least two radially different points of view before you can even being to make an assumption on speed and direction.

Answer 7

The universe we can observe is finite. It has a beginning in space and time, before which the concept of space and time has no meaning, because spacetime itself is a property of the universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe began about twelve to fifteen billion years ago in a violent explosion. For an incomprehensibly small fraction of a second, the universe was an infinitely dense and infinitely hot fireball. A peculiar form of energy that we don't know yet, suddenly pushed out the fabric of spacetime in a process called "inflation", which lasted for only one millionth of a second.
Since we don't know anything about that, it is currently impossible to get an answer to your question .

Answer 8

well technically no. when the big bang happened space was created. space has been expanding ever since then. so the point where it started is everywhere.

we could tell where it started if we were able to see the entire universe and all of the galaxies. but we cant

Answer 9

on an identical time as there is a super abyss of deep area standard through fact the WMAP chilly Spot that stretches one billion gentle-years for the duration of and includes almost no longer something, this region would not mark the midsection of the universe. No region does. It has to do with the curvature of area itself and the growth of the universe. think of a balloon with a collection of dot marks on it. in case you have been tiny sufficient to stand on any of those dots, you would be able to desire to easily view the horizon of the balloon, and the sting of your balloon international could look an identical distance to you no remember which dot you stood on. yet none of those dots are the midsection of the balloon. it is sort of like that with area. no remember the place in area you stand (or drift), the universe itself seems infinitely huge. this is by using the fact area isn't flat - it is curved. so through fact the universe expands far off from its primordial state, it expands alongside curves particularly of as we communicate-line trajectories. in the super reaches of area, Euclid's geometric gadget breaks down, which will nicely be very perplexing to entice close, yet in addition relatively cool as quickly as you learn the basics.

Answer 10

Well, it's kinda hard to understand, but *everywhere* is the center of the big bang.... You can't point to one direction and say, "It happened over that way." Where you're standing, where I am, where Jupiter is, where Andromeda is - they're all *inside* the big bang.