Questions tagged [cosmology]
The study of the large-scale structure, history, and future of the universe. Cosmology is about asking and answering questions about the "big picture" - the extent, origin, and fate of everything we know.
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Did the Big Bang happen at a point?
TV documentaries invariably show the Big Bang as an exploding ball of fire expanding outwards. Did the Big Bang really explode outwards from a point like this? If not, what did happen?
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Why does space expansion not expand matter?
I have looked at other questions on this site (e.g. "why does space expansion affect matter") but can't find the answer I am looking for.
So here is my question: One often hears talk of space ...
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Is the total energy of the universe zero?
In popular science books and articles, I keep running into the claim that the total energy of the Universe is zero, "because the positive energy of matter is cancelled out by the negative energy of ...
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Can space expand with unlimited speed?
According to this article on the European Space Agency web site just after the Big Bang and before inflation the currently observable universe was the size of a coin. One millionth of a second later ...
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Why is the observable universe so big?
The observable universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old. But yet it is 80 billion light years across. Isn't this a contradiction?
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Did spacetime start with the Big bang?
Did spacetime start with the Big Bang? I mean, was there any presence of this spacetime we are experiencing now before big bang? And could there be a presence/existence of any other space-time before ...
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Does the universe have a center? [duplicate]
If the big bang was the birth of everything, and the big bang was an event in the sense that it had a location and a time (time 0), wouldn't that mean that our universe has a center?
Where was the ...
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Is the CMB rest frame special? Where does it come from?
It seems that we are moving relative to the universe at the speed of ~ 600 km/s.
This is the speed of our galaxy relative to the cosmic microwave background.
Where does this rest frame come from? Is ...
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How does the Hubble parameter change with the age of the universe?
How does the Hubble parameter change with the age of the universe?
This question was posted recently, and I had almost finished writing an answer when the question was deleted. Since it's a shame to ...
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Is the universe finite or infinite?
I thought the universe was finite, but then I read this:
How can something finite become infinite?
And they seem to assume it is infinite. So which is it?
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How would we tell antimatter galaxies apart?
Given that antimatter galaxies are theoretically possible,
how would they be distinguishable from regular matter galaxies?
That is, antimatter is equal in atomic weight and all properties, except for ...
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Is the law of conservation of energy still valid?
Is the law of conservation of energy still valid or have there been experiments showing that energy could be created or lost?
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Why isn't dark matter just ordinary matter?
There's more gravitational force in our galaxy (and others) than can be explained by counting stars made of ordinary matter. So why not lots of dark planetary systems (i.e., without stars) made of ...
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What does general relativity say about the relative velocities of objects that are far away from one another?
What does general relativity say about the relative velocities of objects that are far away from one another? In particular:--
Can distant galaxies be moving away from us at speeds faster than $c$? ...
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How do we know Dark Matter isn't simply Neutrinos?
What evidence is there that dark matter isn't one of the known types of neutrinos?
If it were, how would this be measurable?