Our whole cosmic historical past is theoretically well-understood, however solely as a result of we perceive the idea of gravitation that underlies it, and since we all know the Universe’s current growth price and power composition. We will hint out the timeline of the Universe to beautiful precision, regardless of the uncertainties and unknowns surrounding the very starting of the Universe. From cosmic inflation till immediately’s darkish power domination, the broad strokes of our whole cosmic historical past is understood. (Credit score: Nicole Rager Fuller/Nationwide Science Basis)
From the earliest levels of the new Large Bang (and even earlier than) to our darkish energy-dominated current, how and when did the Universe develop up?
At the moment, it’s now 13.8 billion years for the reason that Large Bang occurred. Our observable Universe extends for 46.1 billion light-years in all instructions, and is made from: