How we love, like this, without thinking about anything, just look at the dark sky, endlessly dotted with stars and dream. Have you ever wondered what it is there above us, what kind of world it is, how it works, whether it has always existed or not, where stars and planets were formed from, why exactly this way and not in another way, these questions can be listed up to infinity. Throughout his entire existence, man has tried and is trying to answer these questions, and hundreds, and perhaps thousands of years will probably pass, and still will not be able to give a complete answer to them.

After thousands of years of observing the stars, man realized that from evening to evening they always remain the same and do not change their relative positions. But nevertheless, this was not always the case, for example, 40 thousand years ago the stars did not look the same as they do now. The Big Dipper looked like the Big Mallet; there was no familiar figure of the belted Orion. This is all explained by the fact that nothing stands still, but is in constant motion. The Moon revolves around, the Earth, in turn, goes through a circular cycle around, the Sun, and with it the whole, revolves around the center of the Galaxy, which, in turn, moves around the center of the Universe. Who knows, maybe our Universe also moves relative to the other, only with larger dimensions.

How the Universe was formed

In 1922, the Russian scientist and astronomer Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman put forward a general theory origin our Universe, which was later confirmed by American astronomer Edwin Hubble. This theory is commonly known as The Big Bang Theory" . At the moment origin of the universe, and this is approximately 12-15 billion years ago, its dimensions were as small as possible, formally it can be assumed that the Universe was pulled into one point and at the same time had an infinitely huge density equal to 10 90 kg/cm³. This means that 1 cubic centimeter of the substance from which the Universe consisted at the moment of the explosion weighed 10 to the 90th power of kilograms. After approximately 10 −35 s. after the onset of the so-called Planck era (when matter was compressed to the maximum possible limit and had a temperature of approximately 10 32 K), an explosion occurred, as a result of which the process of instantaneous exponential expansion of the Universe began, which is still happening. As a result of the explosion, from a superhot cloud of subatomic particles gradually expanding in all directions, atoms, substances, planets, stars, galaxies and, finally, life were gradually formed.

Big Bang- this is the release in all directions of a colossal amount of energy with a gradual drop in temperature, and since the Universe is constantly expanding, it is accordingly continuously cooling. The process of expansion of the Universe itself in cosmology and astronomy has received a common name as “Cosmic inflation”. Soon after the temperature dropped to certain values, the first elementary particles, such as protons and neutrons, appeared in space. When the temperature of space dropped to several thousand degrees, the former elementary particles became electrons and began to combine with protons and helium nuclei. It was at this stage that the formation of atoms began in the Universe, mainly hydrogen and helium.

With every second our Universe increases in volume, this is confirmed by the general theory of the Expansion of the Universe. Moreover, it increases (expands) only because it is not bound by the force of universal gravity. For example, ours cannot expand due to the gravitational forces that any body with mass possesses. Since the Sun is heavier than any planet in our system, due to the forces of gravity, it maintains them at a certain distance, which can only change when the mass of the planet itself changes. If gravitational forces did not exist, then our planet, like any other, would move further and further away from us every minute. And naturally, no life could arise anywhere in the Universe. That is, gravity, as it were, connects all bodies into a single system, into a single object, and therefore expansion can only occur where there are no celestial bodies - in the space between galaxies. The process itself Expansions of the Universe It would be more correct to call it the “scattering” of galaxies. As is known, the distance between galaxies is very large and can reach up to several million, or even hundreds of millions of light years (one light year- this is the distance that a ray of light will travel in one earthly year (365 days), numerically it is equal to 9,460,800,000,000 kilometers, or 9.46 trillion kilometers, or 9.46 thousand billion kilometers). And if we take into account the fact of the Expansion of the Universe, then this figure is constantly growing.

Calculated structure of the Universe according to Millennium simulation. Marked in white

The line distance is about 141 million light years. Indicated in yellow

matter, in purple - dark matter observed only indirectly.

Each yellow dot represents one galaxy.

What will happen next to our Universe, will it always increase? In the early 20s, it was established that the further fate of the Universe depends only on the average density of the substance filling it. If this density is equal to or lower than a certain critical density, then the expansion will continue forever. If the density turns out to be higher than critical, then the reverse phase will occur - compression. The universe will shrink to a point and then happen again Big Bang and the process of development will begin again. It is possible that this cycle (expansion-compression) has already happened to our Universe and will happen in the future. What is this mysterious critical density of the world? Its value is determined only by the modern value of the Hubble constant and is an insignificant value - about 10 -29 g/cm³ or 10 -5 atomic mass units in each cubic centimeter. At this density, 1 gram of the substance is contained in a cube with a side of about 40 thousand kilometers.
Humanity has always been surprised and admired by the size of our world, our Universe, but is it really what man imagined or is it many times larger? Or maybe the Universe is infinite, and if not, then where is its border? Although the volumes of space are colossal, they still have certain limits. According to the observations of Edwin Hubble, the approximate size of the Universe was established, named after him - the Hubble radius, which is about 13 billion light years (12.3 * 10 22 kilometers). On the most modern spaceship, to overcome such a distance a person would need approximately 354 trillion years or 354 thousand billion years.
The most important question still remains unresolved: what existed before the expansion of the Universe began? Is it the same Universe as ours, only not expanding, but contracting? Or a world completely unfamiliar to us with completely different properties of space and time. Perhaps it was a world that obeyed completely different laws of nature unknown to us. These questions are so complex that they go beyond human understanding.

There is still no clarity on the question of the origin of the Universe, despite the enormous knowledge accumulated by humanity. The most common version today is the so-called Big Bang theory.

Did everything come out of a tiny point?

70 years ago, American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are located in the red part of the color spectrum. This, according to the “Doppler effect,” meant that they were moving away from each other. Moreover, the light from more distant galaxies is “redder” than the light from closer ones, which indicated a lower speed of the distant ones. The picture of the scattering of huge masses of matter was strikingly reminiscent of the picture of an explosion. Then the Big Bang theory was proposed.

According to calculations, this happened approximately 13.7 billion years ago. At the time of the explosion, the Universe was a “point” measuring 10-33 centimeters. The extent of the current Universe is estimated by astronomers at 156 billion light years (for comparison: a “point” is as many times smaller than a proton - the nucleus of a hydrogen atom, as the proton itself is smaller than the Moon).

The substance at the “point” was extremely hot, which means that during the explosion a lot of light quanta appeared. Of course, over time everything cools down, and quanta scatter throughout the emerging space, but the echoes of the Big Bang should have survived to this day.

The first confirmation of the explosion came in 1964, when American radio astronomers R. Wilson and A. Penzias discovered relict electromagnetic radiation with a temperature of about 3° on the Kelvin scale (–270° C). This discovery, unexpected for scientists, was considered in favor of the Big Bang.

So, from a superhot cloud of subatomic particles gradually expanding in all directions, atoms, substances, planets, stars, galaxies began to gradually form, and finally life appeared. The Universe is still expanding, and it is unknown how long this will continue. Perhaps someday she will reach her limit.

Nothing can be proven

There is another theory of the origin of the Universe. According to it, the entire universe, life and man are the result of a rational creative act carried out by a certain Creator and Almighty, the nature of which is incomprehensible to the human mind. Materialists are inclined to ridicule this theory, but since half of humanity believes in it in one form or another, we have no right to pass it by in silence.

Explaining the origin of the Universe and man from a mechanistic position, treating the Universe as a product of matter, whose development is subject to the objective laws of nature, supporters of rationalism, as a rule, deny non-physical factors. Especially when it comes to the existence of some kind of Universal, or Cosmic Mind, since this is “unscientific”. What can be described using formulas should be considered scientific. But the problem is precisely that none of the scenarios for the origin of the Universe proposed by supporters of the Big Bang theory can be described mathematically or physically.

The initial state of the Universe - a “point” of infinitely small dimensions with an infinitely high density and an infinitely high temperature - goes beyond the limits of mathematical logic and cannot be formally described. So nothing definite can be said about this, and the calculations fail here. Therefore, this state of the Universe has received the name “phenomenon” among scientists.

"Phenomenon" - the main mystery

The Big Bang theory made it possible to answer many questions facing cosmology, but, unfortunately, and perhaps fortunately, it also raised a number of new ones. In particular: what happened before the Big Bang? What led to the initial heating of the Universe to an unimaginable temperature of more than 1032 degrees K? Why is the Universe surprisingly homogeneous, while during any explosion the matter scatters in different directions extremely unevenly?

But the main mystery is, of course, the “phenomenon”. It is unknown where it came from or how it was formed. In popular science publications, the topic of “phenomenon” is usually omitted altogether, and in specialized scientific publications they write about it as something unacceptable from a scientific point of view. Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned scientist and professor at the University of Cambridge, and J. F. R. Ellis, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cape Town, say so directly in their book “The Long Scale of Space-Time Structure”: “Our results confirm the concept that The universe came into being a finite number of years ago. However, the starting point of the theory of the origin of the Universe as a result of the Big Bang - the so-called "phenomenon" - is beyond the known laws of physics."

It should be taken into account that the problem of the “phenomenon” is only part of a much larger problem, the problem of the very source of the initial state of the Universe. In other words: if the Universe was originally compressed into a point, then what brought it to this state?

Is the universe “pulsating”?

Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are located in the red part of the color spectrum

In an attempt to get around the problem of the “phenomenon”, some scientists propose other hypotheses. One of them is the theory of the “pulsating Universe”. According to it, the Universe endlessly, over and over again, either shrinks to a point, or expands to some boundaries. Such a Universe has neither beginning nor end, there are only cycles of expansion and contraction. At the same time, the authors of the hypothesis claim that the Universe has always existed, thereby seemingly eliminating the question of the “beginning of the world.”

But the fact is that no one has yet provided a satisfactory explanation for the pulsation mechanism. Why is this happening? What are the reasons? Nobel laureate, physicist Steven Weinberg, in his book “The First Three Minutes,” points out that with each regular pulsation in the Universe, the ratio of the number of photons to the number of nucleons must inevitably increase, which leads to the extinction of new pulsations. Weinberg concludes that, therefore, the number of pulsation cycles of the Universe is finite, which means that at some point they must stop. Consequently, the “pulsating Universe” has an end, and therefore also has a beginning.

Another theory of the origin of the Universe is the theory of “white holes”, or quasars, which “spit out” entire galaxies from themselves.

The theory of “space-time tunnels” or “space channels” is also interesting. The idea of ​​them was first expressed in 1962 by the American theoretical physicist John Wheeler in his book “Geometrodynamics,” in which the researcher formulated the possibility of transdimensional, unusually fast intergalactic travel. Some versions of the concept of "space channels" consider the possibility of using them to travel into the past and future, as well as to other universes and dimensions.

The incomprehensible plan of the Creator

John Wheeler formulated the possibility of fast intergalactic travel

At the same time, in scientific publications one can increasingly come across indirect or direct recognition of the existence of supernatural forces beyond the control of science. The number of scientists, including prominent mathematicians and theoretical physicists, who are inclined to admit the existence of a certain Demiurge, or Supreme Intelligence, is increasing.

Famous Soviet scientist, Doctor of Science, physicist and mathematician O.V. Tupitsyn mathematically proved that the Universe, and with it man, were created by a Mind immeasurably more powerful than the human. “It is undeniable that life, including intelligent life, is always a strictly ordered process,” writes O. V. Tupitsyn. – Life is based on order, a system of laws according to which matter moves. Death, on the contrary, is disorder, chaos and, as a consequence, the destruction of matter. Without external influence, and reasonable and purposeful influence, no order is possible - the process of destruction immediately begins, meaning death. Without understanding this, and therefore without recognizing the idea of ​​the Creator, science will never be destined to discover the root cause of the Universe, which arose from primordial matter as a result of strictly ordered processes or, as physics calls them, fundamental laws. Fundamental means basic and unchangeable, without which the existence of the world would be completely impossible.”

According to scientific views, at the initial “point” there should have been neither space nor time. They appeared only at the very moment of the Big Bang. Before him there was only a tiny “point” located, strictly speaking, in an unknown place. At this “point,” which was unknown what it was, our entire world with all its fundamental laws and constants, future stars and planets, life and man was already founded.

Perhaps the “point” was in the hands of the Creator somewhere in another, parallel world. And this Creator set in motion the mechanism of creating a new Universe. Perhaps space and time do not exist for the Creator at all. He is able to simultaneously observe all events from the beginning to the end of the world. He knows everything that was and will be in our Universe, which he created for a purpose incomprehensible to us.

But it is very difficult for a modern person, especially one brought up on atheism, to include the Creator in the system of his worldview. So we have to believe in “pulsation”, “space channels” and “white holes”.

What do we know about the universe, what is space like? The Universe is a boundless world difficult to comprehend by the human mind, which seems unreal and intangible. In fact, we are surrounded by matter, limitless in space and time, capable of taking various forms. To try to understand the true scale of outer space, how the Universe works, the structure of the universe and the processes of evolution, we will need to cross the threshold of our own worldview, look at the world around us from a different angle, from the inside.

Education of the Universe: first steps

The space that we observe through telescopes is only part of the stellar Universe, the so-called Megagalaxy. The parameters of Hubble's cosmological horizon are colossal - 15-20 billion light years. These data are approximate, since in the process of evolution the Universe is constantly expanding. The expansion of the Universe occurs through the spread of chemical elements and cosmic microwave background radiation. The structure of the Universe is constantly changing. Clusters of galaxies, objects and bodies of the Universe appear in space - these are billions of stars that form the elements of near space - star systems with planets and satellites.

Where is the beginning? How did the Universe come into being? Presumably the age of the Universe is 20 billion years. Perhaps the source of cosmic matter was hot and dense proto-matter, the accumulation of which exploded at a certain moment. The smallest particles formed as a result of the explosion scattered in all directions, and continue to move away from the epicenter in our time. The Big Bang theory, which now dominates scientific circles, most accurately describes the formation of the Universe. The substance that emerged as a result of the cosmic cataclysm was a heterogeneous mass consisting of tiny unstable particles that, colliding and scattering, began to interact with each other.

The Big Bang is a theory of the origin of the Universe that explains its formation. According to this theory, there initially existed a certain amount of matter, which, as a result of certain processes, exploded with colossal force, scattering the mass of the mother into the surrounding space.

After some time, by cosmic standards - an instant, by earthly chronology - millions of years, the stage of materialization of space began. What is the Universe made of? The scattered matter began to concentrate into clumps, large and small, in the place of which the first elements of the Universe, huge gas masses—nurseries of future stars—subsequently began to emerge. In most cases, the process of formation of material objects in the Universe is explained by the laws of physics and thermodynamics, but there are a number of points that cannot yet be explained. For example, why is expanding matter more concentrated in one part of space, while in another part of the universe matter is very rarefied? Answers to these questions can only be obtained when the mechanism of formation of space objects, large and small, becomes clear.

Now the process of formation of the Universe is explained by the action of the laws of the Universe. Gravitational instability and energy in different areas triggered the formation of protostars, which in turn, under the influence of centrifugal forces and gravity, formed galaxies. In other words, while matter continued and continues to expand, compression processes began under the influence of gravitational forces. Particles of gas clouds began to concentrate around an imaginary center, eventually forming a new compaction. The building materials in this gigantic construction project are molecular hydrogen and helium.

The chemical elements of the Universe are the primary building material from which the objects of the Universe were subsequently formed

Then the law of thermodynamics begins to operate, and the processes of decay and ionization are activated. Hydrogen and helium molecules disintegrate into atoms, from which the core of a protostar is formed under the influence of gravitational forces. These processes are the laws of the Universe and have taken the form of a chain reaction, occurring in all distant corners of the Universe, filling the universe with billions, hundreds of billions of stars.

Evolution of the Universe: highlights

Today, in scientific circles there is a hypothesis about the cyclical nature of the states from which the history of the Universe is woven. Arising as a result of the explosion of promaterial, gas clusters became nurseries for stars, which in turn formed numerous galaxies. However, having reached a certain phase, matter in the Universe begins to tend to its original, concentrated state, i.e. the explosion and subsequent expansion of matter in space is followed by compression and a return to a superdense state, to the starting point. Subsequently, everything repeats itself, the birth is followed by the finale, and so on for many billions of years, ad infinitum.

The beginning and end of the universe in accordance with the cyclical evolution of the Universe

However, omitting the topic of the formation of the Universe, which remains an open question, we should move on to the structure of the universe. Back in the 30s of the 20th century, it became clear that outer space is divided into regions - galaxies, which are huge formations, each with its own stellar population. Moreover, galaxies are not static objects. The speed of galaxies moving away from the imaginary center of the Universe is constantly changing, as evidenced by the convergence of some and the removal of others from each other.

All of the above processes, from the point of view of the duration of earthly life, last very slowly. From the point of view of science and these hypotheses, all evolutionary processes occur rapidly. Conventionally, the evolution of the Universe can be divided into four stages - eras:

• hadron era;
• lepton era;
• photon era;
• star era.

Cosmic time scale and evolution of the Universe, according to which the appearance of cosmic objects can be explained

At the first stage, all matter was concentrated in one large nuclear droplet, consisting of particles and antiparticles, combined into groups - hadrons (protons and neutrons). The ratio of particles to antiparticles is approximately 1:1.1. Next comes the process of annihilation of particles and antiparticles. The remaining protons and neutrons are the building blocks from which the Universe is formed. The duration of the hadron era is negligible, only 0.0001 seconds - the period of explosive reaction.

Then, after 100 seconds, the process of synthesis of elements begins. At a temperature of a billion degrees, the process of nuclear fusion produces molecules of hydrogen and helium. All this time, the substance continues to expand in space.

From this moment, a long, from 300 thousand to 700 thousand years, stage of recombination of nuclei and electrons begins, forming hydrogen and helium atoms. In this case, a decrease in the temperature of the substance is observed, and the radiation intensity decreases. The universe becomes transparent. Hydrogen and helium formed in colossal quantities under the influence of gravitational forces turns the primary Universe into a giant construction site. After millions of years, the stellar era begins - which is the process of formation of protostars and the first protogalaxies.

This division of evolution into stages fits into the model of the hot Universe, which explains many processes. The true causes of the Big Bang and the mechanism of matter expansion remain unexplained.

Structure and structure of the Universe

The stellar era of the evolution of the Universe begins with the formation of hydrogen gas. Under the influence of gravity, hydrogen accumulates into huge clusters and clumps. The mass and density of such clusters are colossal, hundreds of thousands of times greater than the mass of the formed galaxy itself. The uneven distribution of hydrogen, observed at the initial stage of the formation of the universe, explains the differences in the sizes of the resulting galaxies. Megagalaxies formed where the maximum accumulation of hydrogen gas should exist. Where the concentration of hydrogen was insignificant, smaller galaxies appeared, similar to our stellar home - the Milky Way.

The version according to which the Universe is a beginning-end point around which galaxies revolve at different stages of development

From this moment on, the Universe receives its first formations with clear boundaries and physical parameters. These are no longer nebulae, accumulations of stellar gas and cosmic dust (products of an explosion), protoclusters of stellar matter. These are star countries, the area of ​​​​which is huge from the point of view of the human mind. The universe is becoming full of interesting cosmic phenomena.

From the point of view of scientific justification and the modern model of the Universe, galaxies were first formed as a result of the action of gravitational forces. There was a transformation of matter into a colossal universal whirlpool. Centripetal processes ensured the subsequent fragmentation of gas clouds into clusters, which became the birthplace of the first stars. Protogalaxies with fast rotation periods turned into spiral galaxies over time. Where the rotation was slow and the process of compression of matter was mainly observed, irregular galaxies were formed, most often elliptical. Against this background, more grandiose processes took place in the Universe - the formation of superclusters of galaxies, whose edges are in close contact with each other.

Superclusters are numerous groups of galaxies and clusters of galaxies within the large-scale structure of the Universe. Within 1 billion St. There are about 100 superclusters for years

From that moment on, it became clear that the Universe is a huge map, where the continents are clusters of galaxies, and the countries are megagalaxies and galaxies formed billions of years ago. Each of the formations consists of a cluster of stars, nebulae, and accumulations of interstellar gas and dust. However, this entire population constitutes only 1% of the total volume of universal formations. The bulk of the mass and volume of galaxies is occupied by dark matter, the nature of which is not possible to determine.

Diversity of the Universe: classes of galaxies

Thanks to the efforts of the American astrophysicist Edwin Hubble, we now have the boundaries of the Universe and a clear classification of the galaxies that inhabit it. The classification is based on the structural features of these giant formations. Why do galaxies have different shapes? The answer to this and many other questions is given by the Hubble classification, according to which the Universe consists of galaxies of the following classes:

• spiral;
• elliptical;
• irregular galaxies.

The first include the most common formations that fill the universe. The characteristic features of spiral galaxies are the presence of a clearly defined spiral that rotates around a bright core or tends to a galactic bar. Spiral galaxies with a core are designated S, while objects with a central bar are designated SB. Our Milky Way galaxy also belongs to this class, in the center of which the core is divided by a luminous bridge.

A typical spiral galaxy. In the center, a core with a bridge from the ends of which spiral arms emanate is clearly visible.

Similar formations are scattered throughout the Universe. The closest spiral galaxy, Andromeda, is a giant that is rapidly approaching the Milky Way. The largest representative of this class known to us is the giant galaxy NGC 6872. The diameter of the galactic disk of this monster is approximately 522 thousand light years. This object is located at a distance of 212 million light years from our galaxy.

The next common class of galactic formations are elliptical galaxies. Their designation in accordance with the Hubble classification is the letter E (elliptical). These formations are ellipsoidal in shape. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of similar objects in the Universe, elliptical galaxies are not particularly expressive. They consist mainly of smooth ellipses that are filled with star clusters. Unlike galactic spirals, ellipses do not contain accumulations of interstellar gas and cosmic dust, which are the main optical effects of visualizing such objects.

A typical representative of this class known today is the elliptical ring nebula in the constellation Lyra. This object is located at a distance of 2100 light years from Earth.

View of the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A through the CFHT telescope

The last class of galactic objects that populate the Universe are irregular or irregular galaxies. The designation according to the Hubble classification is the Latin symbol I. The main feature is an irregular shape. In other words, such objects do not have clear symmetrical shapes and characteristic patterns. In its shape, such a galaxy resembles a picture of universal chaos, where star clusters alternate with clouds of gas and cosmic dust. On the scale of the Universe, irregular galaxies are a common phenomenon.

In turn, irregular galaxies are divided into two subtypes:

• Irregular galaxies of subtype I have a complex irregular structure, a high dense surface, and are distinguished by brightness. Often this chaotic shape of irregular galaxies is a consequence of collapsed spirals. A typical example of such a galaxy is the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud;
• Irregular, irregular galaxies of subtype II have a low surface, a chaotic shape and are not very bright. Due to the decrease in brightness, such formations are difficult to detect in the vastness of the Universe.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is the closest irregular galaxy to us. Both formations, in turn, are satellites of the Milky Way and may soon (in 1-2 billion years) be absorbed by a larger object.

Irregular galaxy Large Magellanic Cloud - a satellite of our Milky Way galaxy

Despite the fact that Edwin Hubble quite accurately classified galaxies into classes, this classification is not ideal. We could achieve more results if we included Einstein’s theory of relativity in the process of understanding the Universe. The Universe is represented by a wealth of various forms and structures, each of which has its own characteristic properties and features. Recently, astronomers were able to discover new galactic formations that are described as intermediate objects between spiral and elliptical galaxies.

The Milky Way is the most famous part of the Universe

Two spiral arms, symmetrically located around the center, make up the main body of the galaxy. The spirals, in turn, consist of arms that smoothly flow into each other. At the junction of the Sagittarius and Cygnus arms, our Sun is located, located at a distance of 2.62·10¹⁷km from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The spirals and arms of spiral galaxies are clusters of stars whose density increases as they approach the galactic center. The rest of the mass and volume of galactic spirals is dark matter, and only a small part is accounted for by interstellar gas and cosmic dust.

The position of the Sun in the arms of the Milky Way, the place of our galaxy in the Universe

The thickness of the spirals is approximately 2 thousand light years. This entire layer cake is in constant motion, rotating at a tremendous speed of 200-300 km/s. The closer to the center of the galaxy, the higher the rotation speed. It will take the Sun and our Solar System 250 million years to complete a revolution around the center of the Milky Way.

Our galaxy consists of a trillion stars, large and small, super-heavy and medium-sized. The densest cluster of stars in the Milky Way is the Sagittarius Arm. It is in this region that the maximum brightness of our galaxy is observed. The opposite part of the galactic circle, on the contrary, is less bright and difficult to distinguish by visual observation.

The central part of the Milky Way is represented by a core, the dimensions of which are estimated to be 1000-2000 parsecs. In this brightest region of the galaxy, the maximum number of stars is concentrated, which have different classes, their own paths of development and evolution. These are mainly old super-heavy stars in the final stages of the Main Sequence. Confirmation of the presence of an aging center of the Milky Way galaxy is the presence in this region of a large number of neutron stars and black holes. Indeed, the center of the spiral disk of any spiral galaxy is a supermassive black hole, which, like a giant vacuum cleaner, sucks in celestial objects and real matter.

A supermassive black hole located in the central part of the Milky Way is the place of death of all galactic objects

As for star clusters, scientists today have managed to classify two types of clusters: spherical and open. In addition to star clusters, the spirals and arms of the Milky Way, like any other spiral galaxy, consist of scattered matter and dark energy. As a consequence of the Big Bang, matter is in a highly rarefied state, which is represented by tenuous interstellar gas and dust particles. The visible part of the matter consists of nebulae, which in turn are divided into two types: planetary and diffuse nebulae. The visible part of the spectrum of nebulae is due to the refraction of light from stars, which emit light inside the spiral in all directions.

Our solar system exists in this cosmic soup. No, we are not the only ones in this huge world. Like the Sun, many stars have their own planetary systems. The whole question is how to detect distant planets, if distances even within our galaxy exceed the duration of existence of any intelligent civilization. Time in the Universe is measured by other criteria. Planets with their satellites are the smallest objects in the Universe. The number of such objects is incalculable. Each of those stars that are in the visible range can have their own star systems. We can see only the existing planets closest to us. What is happening in the neighborhood, what worlds exist in other arms of the Milky Way and what planets exist in other galaxies remains a mystery.

Kepler-16 b is an exoplanet near the double star Kepler-16 in the constellation Cygnus

Conclusion

Having only a superficial understanding of how the Universe appeared and how it is evolving, man has taken only a small step towards comprehending and comprehending the scale of the universe. The enormous size and scope that scientists have to deal with today suggests that human civilization is just a moment in this bundle of matter, space and time.

Model of the Universe in accordance with the concept of the presence of matter in space, taking into account time

The study of the Universe goes from Copernicus to the present day. At first, scientists started from the heliocentric model. In fact, it turned out that space has no real center and all rotation, movement and movement occurs according to the laws of the Universe. Despite the fact that there is a scientific explanation for the processes taking place, universal objects are divided into classes, types and types, not a single body in space is similar to another. The sizes of celestial bodies are approximate, as is their mass. The location of galaxies, stars and planets is arbitrary. The thing is that there is no coordinate system in the Universe. Observing space, we make a projection onto the entire visible horizon, considering our Earth as the zero reference point. In fact, we are only a microscopic particle, lost in the endless expanses of the Universe.

The Universe is a substance in which all objects exist in close connection with space and time

Similar to the connection to size, time in the Universe should be considered as the main component. The origin and age of space objects allows us to create a picture of the birth of the world and highlight the stages of the evolution of the universe. The system we are dealing with is closely related to time frames. All processes occurring in space have cycles - beginning, formation, transformation and ending, accompanied by the death of a material object and the transition of matter to another state.

How did it turn into a seemingly endless space? And what will it become after many millions and billions of years? These questions have tormented (and continue to torment) the minds of philosophers and scientists, it seems, since the beginning of time, giving rise to many interesting and sometimes even crazy theories

Today, most astronomers and cosmologists have come to a general agreement that the universe as we know it was the result of a gigantic explosion that not only created the bulk of matter, but was the source of the basic physical laws according to which the cosmos that surrounds us exists. All this is called the big bang theory.

The basics of the big bang theory are relatively simple. Thus, in short, according to it, all the matter that existed and now exists in the universe appeared at the same time - about 13.8 billion years ago. At that moment in time, all matter existed in the form of a very compact abstract ball (or point) with infinite density and temperature. This state was called singularity. Suddenly, the singularity began to expand and gave birth to the universe we know.

It is worth noting that the big bang theory is only one of many proposed hypotheses for the origin of the universe (for example, there is also the theory of a stationary universe), but it has received the widest recognition and popularity. Not only does it explain the source of all known matter, the laws of physics, and the larger structure of the universe, it also describes the reasons for the expansion of the universe and many other aspects and phenomena.

Chronology of events in the big bang theory.

Based on knowledge of the current state of the universe, scientists theorize that everything must have started from a single point with infinite density and finite time, which began to expand. After the initial expansion, the theory goes, the universe went through a cooling phase that allowed the emergence of subatomic particles and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these ancient elements later, thanks to gravity, began to form stars and galaxies.

All this, according to scientists, began about 13.8 billion years ago, and therefore this starting point is considered the age of the universe. By exploring various theoretical principles, conducting experiments involving particle accelerators and high-energy states, and conducting astronomical studies of the far reaches of the universe, scientists have deduced and proposed a chronology of events that began with the big bang and led the universe ultimately to that state of cosmic evolution that is taking place now.

Scientists believe that the earliest periods of the universe's origins - lasting from 10-43 to 10-11 seconds after the big bang - are still a matter of debate and debate. Attention! Only if we take into account that the laws of physics that we now know could not exist at that time, then it is very difficult to understand how the processes in this early universe were regulated. In addition, experiments using the possible types of energies that could be present at that time have not yet been carried out. Be that as it may, many theories about the origin of the universe ultimately agree that at some point in time there was a starting point from which everything began.

The era of singularity.

Also known as the Planck epoch (or Planck era), it is taken to be the earliest known period in the evolution of the universe. At this time, all matter was contained in a single point of infinite density and temperature. During this period, scientists believe, the quantum effects of gravitational interactions dominated the physical ones, and no physical force was equal in strength to gravity.

The Planck era supposedly lasted from 0 to 10-43 seconds and is so named because its duration can only be measured by Planck time. Due to the extreme temperatures and infinite density of matter, the state of the universe during this time period was extremely unstable. This was followed by periods of expansion and cooling that gave rise to the fundamental forces of physics.

Approximately in the period from 10-43 to 10-36 seconds, a process of collision of transition temperature states occurred in the universe. It is believed that it was at this point that the fundamental forces that govern the current universe began to separate from each other. The first step of this separation was the emergence of gravitational forces, strong and weak nuclear interactions and electromagnetism.

In the period from about 10-36 to 10-32 seconds after the big bang, the temperature of the universe became low enough (1028 K), which led to the separation of electromagnetic forces (the strong force) and the weak nuclear force (the weak force).

The era of inflation.

With the advent of the first fundamental forces in the universe, the era of inflation began, which lasted from 10-32 seconds in Planck time to an unknown point in time. Most cosmological models suggest that the universe during this period was uniformly filled with high-density energy, and incredibly high temperatures and pressures caused it to rapidly expand and cool.

This began at 10-37 seconds, when the transition phase that caused the separation of forces was followed by the expansion of the universe in geometric progression. During the same period of time, the universe was in a state of baryogenesis, when the temperature was so high that the random movement of particles in space occurred at near-light speed.

At this time, pairs of particles - antiparticles are formed and immediately colliding and destroyed, which is believed to have led to the dominance of matter over antimatter in the modern universe. After inflation stopped, the universe consisted of quark-gluon plasma and other elementary particles. From that moment on, the universe began to cool down, matter began to form and combine.

The era of cooling.

As the density and temperature inside the universe decreased, the energy in each particle began to decrease. This transitional state lasted until the fundamental forces and elementary particles arrived at their present form. Since the energy of the particles has dropped to values ​​​​that can be achieved today in experiments, the actual possible existence of this time period is much less controversial among scientists.

For example, scientists believe that at 10-11 seconds after the big bang, the energy of the particles decreased significantly. At about 10-6 seconds, quarks and gluons began to form baryons - protons and neutrons. Quarks began to predominate over antiquarks, which in turn led to the predominance of baryons over antibaryons.

Since the temperature was no longer high enough to create new proton-antiproton pairs (or neutron-antineutron pairs), massive destruction of these particles followed, resulting in the remainder of only 1/1010 of the number of original protons and neutrons and the complete disappearance of their antiparticles. A similar process occurred about 1 second after the big bang. Only the “Victims” this time were electrons and positrons. After the mass destruction, the remaining protons, neutrons and electrons ceased their random motion, and the energy density of the universe was filled with photons and, to a lesser extent, neutrinos.

During the first minutes of the expansion of the universe, a period of nucleosynthesis (the synthesis of chemical elements) began. With the temperature dropping to 1 billion kelvins and the energy density decreasing to values ​​approximately equivalent to that of air, neutrons and protons began to mix and form the first stable isotope of hydrogen (deuterium), and helium atoms However, most of the protons in the universe remained as the disconnected nuclei of hydrogen atoms.

After about 379,000 years, the electrons combined with these hydrogen nuclei to form atoms (again predominantly hydrogen), while the radiation separated from matter and continued to expand virtually unimpeded through space. This radiation is called the cosmic microwave background radiation, and it is the oldest source of light in the universe.

With expansion, the cosmic microwave background gradually lost its density and energy, and at the moment its temperature is 2.7260 0.0013 K (- 270.424 C), and the energy density is 0.25 eV (or 4.005x10-14 J/m? ; 400-500 Photons/cm The CMB extends in all directions and over a distance of about 13.8 billion light years, but an estimate of its actual distribution is about 46 billion light years from the center of the universe.

The era of structure (hierarchical era).

Over the next few billion years, denser regions of matter that were almost evenly distributed throughout the universe began to attract each other. As a result of this, they became even denser and began to form clouds of gas, stars, galaxies and other astronomical structures that we can observe today. This period is called the hierarchical era. At this time, the universe that we see now began to take its form. Matter began to unite into structures of various sizes - stars, planets, galaxies, galaxy clusters, as well as galactic superclusters, separated by intergalactic bridges containing only a few galaxies.

The details of this process can be described according to the idea of ​​the amount and type of matter distributed in the universe, which is represented as cold, warm, hot dark matter and baryonic matter. However, the current standard cosmological model of the big bang is the lambda-CDM model, according to which dark matter particles move slower than the speed of light. It was chosen because it solves all the contradictions that appeared in other cosmological models.

According to this model, cold dark matter accounts for about 23 percent of all matter/energy in the universe. The proportion of baryonic matter is about 4.6 percent. Lambda - CDM refers to the so-called cosmological constant: a theory proposed by Albert Einstein that characterizes the properties of the vacuum and shows the balance relationship between mass and energy as a constant static quantity. In this case, it is associated with dark energy, which serves as an accelerator of the expansion of the universe and keeps giant cosmological structures largely homogeneous.

Long-term predictions regarding the future of the universe.

Hypotheses that the evolution of the universe has a starting point naturally lead scientists to questions about the possible end point of this process. Only if the universe began its history from a small point with infinite density, which suddenly began to expand, does this not mean that it will also expand indefinitely, or one day it will run out of expansive force and the reverse process of compression will begin, the end result of which will it still be the same infinitely dense point?

Answering these questions has been the main goal of cosmologists from the very beginning of the debate about which cosmological model of the universe is correct. With the acceptance of the big bang theory, but largely thanks to the observation of dark energy in the 1990s, scientists have come to a consensus on the two most likely scenarios for the evolution of the universe.

According to the first, called the Big Crunch, the universe will reach its maximum size and begin to collapse. This scenario will be possible only if the mass density of the universe becomes greater than the critical density itself. In other words, if the density of matter reaches or rises above a certain value (1-3x10-26 kg of matter per m), the universe will begin to contract.

An alternative is another scenario, which states that if the density in the universe is equal to or below the critical density value, then its expansion will slow down, but will never completely stop. According to this hypothesis, called the "Heat Death of the Universe", expansion will continue until star formation stops consuming the interstellar gas inside each of the surrounding galaxies. That is, the transfer of energy and matter from one object to another will completely stop. All existing stars in this case will burn out and turn into white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

Gradually, black holes will collide with other black holes, leading to the formation of larger and larger ones. The average temperature of the universe will approach absolute zero. The black holes will eventually "Evaporate", releasing their last hawking radiation. Eventually, thermodynamic entropy in the universe will reach its maximum. Heat death will occur.

Modern observations that take into account the presence of dark energy and its influence on the expansion of space have led scientists to conclude that over time, more and more of the universe will pass beyond our event horizon and become invisible to us. The final and logical result of this is not yet known to scientists, but “Heat Death” may well be the end point of such events.

There are other hypotheses regarding the distribution of dark energy, or more precisely, its possible types (for example, phantom energy. According to them, galactic clusters, stars, planets, atoms, atomic nuclei and matter itself will be torn apart as a result of its endless expansion. Such a scenario evolution is called the “Big Rip.” According to this scenario, the cause of the death of the universe is the expansion itself.

History of the Big Bang Theory.

The earliest mention of the big bang dates back to the early 20th century and is associated with observations of space. In 1912, American astronomer Vesto Slifer made a series of observations of spiral galaxies (which were originally thought to be nebulae) and measured their Doppler redshift. In almost all cases, observations have shown that spiral galaxies are moving away from our Milky Way.

In 1922, the outstanding Russian mathematician and cosmologist Alexander Friedman derived the so-called Friedmann equations from Einstein’s equations for general relativity. Despite Einstein's promotion of a theory in favor of a cosmological constant, Friedman's work showed that the universe was rather in a state of expansion.

In 1924, Edwin Hubble's measurements of the distance to a nearby spiral nebula showed that these systems were in fact truly different galaxies. At the same time, Hubble began developing a series of distance subtraction metrics using the 2.5-meter Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. By 1929, Hubble had discovered a relationship between the distance and the speed at which galaxies recede, which later became Hubble's law.

In 1927, the Belgian mathematician, physicist and Catholic priest Georges Lemaître independently arrived at the same results as Friedmann's equations, and was the first to formulate the relationship between the distance and speed of galaxies, offering the first estimate of the coefficient of this relationship. Lemaitre believed that at some point in the past the entire mass of the universe was concentrated at one point (atom.

These discoveries and assumptions caused much debate among physicists in the 20s and 30s, most of whom believed that the universe was in a stationary state. According to the model that was established at that time, new matter was created along with the infinite expansion of the universe, distributed evenly and equally in density throughout its entire extent. Among the scientists who supported it, the big bang idea seemed more theological than scientific. The Lemaitre was criticized for being biased on the basis of religious prejudices.

It should be noted that other theories existed at the same time. For example, the Milne model of the universe and the cyclic model. Both were based on the postulates of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and subsequently received the support of the scientist himself. According to these models, the universe exists in an endless stream of repeating cycles of expansion and collapse.

1. The era of singularity (Planckian). It is considered to be primary, as the early evolutionary period of the Universe. Matter was concentrated at one point, which had its own temperature and infinite density. Scientists argue that this era is characterized by the dominance of quantum effects belonging to gravitational interaction over physical ones, and not a single physical force that existed in those distant times was identical in strength to gravity, that is, it was not equal to it. The duration of the Planck era is concentrated in the range from 0 to 10-43 seconds. It received this name because only Planck time could fully measure its extent. This time interval is considered to be very unstable, which in turn is closely related to the extreme temperature and limitless density of matter. Following the era of singularity, a period of expansion occurred, and with it cooling, which led to the formation of basic physical forces.

How the Universe was born. Cold birth

What happened before the Universe? Model of the "Sleeping" Universe

“Perhaps before the Big Bang the Universe was a very compact, slowly evolving static space,” theorize physicists such as Kurt Hinterbichler, Austin Joyce and Justin Khoury.

This “pre-explosion” Universe had to have a metastable state, that is, be stable until an even more stable state appears. By analogy, imagine a cliff, on the edge of which there is a boulder in a state of vibration. Any contact with the boulder will lead to it falling into the abyss or - which is closer to our case - a Big Bang will occur. According to some theories, the “pre-explosion” Universe could exist in a different form, for example, in the form of an oblate and very dense space. As a result, this metastable period came to an end: it expanded sharply and acquired the shape and state of what we see now.

“The sleeping universe model, however, also has its problems,” says Carroll.

“It also assumes that our Universe has a low level of entropy, but does not explain why this is so.”

However, Hinterbichler, a theoretical physicist at Case Western Reserve University, doesn't see the appearance of low entropy as a problem.

“We are simply looking for an explanation of the dynamics that occurred before the Big Bang that explain why we see what we see now. For now, this is the only thing we have left,” says Hinterbichler.

Carroll, however, believes that there is another theory of a “pre-explosion” Universe that can explain the low level of entropy present in our Universe.

How the Universe appeared from nothing. How the Universe works

Let's talk about how physics actually works, according to our concepts. Since the time of Newton, the paradigm of fundamental physics has not changed; it includes three parts. The first is “state space”: essentially a list of all the possible configurations in which the Universe could exist. The second is a certain state that represents the Universe at some point in time, usually the current one. The third is a certain rule according to which the Universe develops in time. Give me the Universe today, and the laws of physics will tell you what will happen to it in the future. This way of thinking is no less true for quantum mechanics or general relativity or quantum field theory than for Newtonian mechanics or Maxwellian electrodynamics.

Quantum mechanics, in particular, is a special, but very versatile implementation of this scheme. (Quantum field theory is just a specific example of quantum mechanics, not a new way of thinking). States are “wave functions”, and the set of all possible wave functions of a particular system is called “Hilbert space”. Its advantage is that it greatly limits the set of possibilities (because it is a vector space: a note for experts). Once you tell me its size (number of dimensions), you will completely define your Hilbert space. This is radically different from classical mechanics, in which the state space can become extremely complex. And there is also a machine - the “Hamiltonian” - which indicates exactly how to develop from one state to another over time. I repeat that there are not many varieties of Hamiltonians; it is enough to write down a certain list of quantities (eigenvalues ​​of energy - clarification for you, annoying experts).

How life appeared on Earth. Life in the Earth

Life using chemistry different from ours may arise on Earth more than once. Maybe. And if we find evidence of such a process, it means that there is a high probability that life will arise in many places in the Universe independently of each other, just as life arose on Earth. But on the other hand, imagine how we would feel if we eventually discovered life on another planet, perhaps orbiting a distant star, and it turned out to have identical chemistry and perhaps even an identical DNA structure to ours.

The chances that life on Earth arose completely spontaneously and by chance seem very small. The chances of exactly the same life arising in another place are incredibly small, and practically equal to zero. But there are possible answers to these questions, which the English astronomers Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe outlined in their unusual book, written in 1979, Life cloud.

Given the extremely unlikely chance that life on Earth appeared on its own, the authors propose another explanation. It lies in the fact that the emergence of life occurred somewhere in space, and then spread throughout the Universe through panspermia. Microscopic life trapped in debris from cosmic collisions can travel while dormant for very long periods of time. After which, when it arrives at its destination, where it will begin to develop again. Thus, all life in the Universe, including life on Earth, is in fact the same life.

Video How the Universe appeared

How the Universe appeared from nothing. Cold birth

However, the path to such a unification can be thought out at a qualitative level, and very interesting prospects arise here. One of them was considered by the famous cosmologist, professor at the University of Arizona Lawrence Krauss in his recently published book “A Universe From Nothing”. His hypothesis looks fantastic, but does not at all contradict the established laws of physics.

It is believed that our Universe arose from a very hot initial state with a temperature of about 1032 Kelvin. However, it is also possible to imagine the cold birth of universes from pure vacuum - more precisely, from its quantum fluctuations. It is well known that such fluctuations give rise to a great many virtual particles that literally arose from nothingness and subsequently disappeared without a trace. According to Krauss, vacuum fluctuations are, in principle, capable of giving rise to equally ephemeral protouniverses, which, under certain conditions, pass from a virtual state to a real one.

The question of how the Universe came into being has always worried people. This is not surprising, because everyone wants to know their origins. Scientists, priests and writers have been struggling with this question for several millennia. This question excites the minds of not only specialists, but also every ordinary person. However, it’s worth saying right away that there is no 100% answer to the question of how the Universe came into being. There is only a theory that is supported by most scientists.

• Here we will analyze it.

Since everything that surrounds man has its own beginning, it is not surprising that since ancient times man has been trying to find the beginning of the Universe. For a man of the Middle Ages, the answer to this question was quite simple - God created the Universe. However, with the development of science, scientists began to question not only the question of God, but also the idea that the Universe had a beginning.

In 1929, thanks to the American astronomer Hubble, scientists returned to the question of the roots of the Universe. The fact is that Hubble proved that the galaxies that make up the Universe are constantly moving. In addition to movement, they can also increase, which means the Universe increases. And if it grows, it turns out that there was once a stage where this growth started. This means that the Universe has a beginning.

A little later, the British astronomer Hoyle put forward a sensational hypothesis: the Universe arose at the moment of the Big Bang. His theory went down in history under that name. The essence of Hoyle's idea is simple and complex at the same time. He believed that there once existed a stage called the state of cosmic singularity, that is, time stood at zero, and density and temperature were equal to infinity. And at one moment there was an explosion, as a result of which the singularity was broken, and therefore the density and temperature changed, the growth of matter began, which means time began to count. Later, Hoyle himself called his theory unconvincing, but this did not stop it from becoming the most popular hypothesis of the origin of the Universe.

When did what Hoyle called the Big Bang happen? Scientists carried out many calculations, as a result, most agreed on the figure of 13.5 billion years. It was then that the Universe began to appear out of nothing. In just a split second, the Universe acquired a size smaller than an atom, and the process of expansion was launched. Gravity played a key role. The most interesting thing is that if it had been a little stronger, then nothing would have arisen, at most a black hole. And if gravity were a little weaker, then nothing would arise at all.
A few seconds after the Explosion, the temperature in the Universe decreased slightly, which gave impetus to the creation of matter and antimatter. As a result, atoms began to appear. So the Universe ceased to be monochromatic. Somewhere there were more atoms, somewhere less. In some parts it was hotter, in others the temperature was lower. Atoms began to collide with each other, forming compounds, then new substances, and later bodies. Some objects had great internal energy. These were the stars. They began to gather around themselves (thanks to the force of gravity) other bodies that we call planets. This is how systems arose, one of which is our Solar system.

Big Bang. Model problems and their resolution

1. The problem of the large scale and isotropy of the Universe can be resolved due to the fact that during the inflation stage the expansion occurred at an unusually high rate. It follows from this that the entire space of the observable Universe is the result of one causally related region of the epoch preceding the inflationary one.
2. Solving the problem of a flat Universe. This is possible because at the inflation stage the radius of curvature of space increases. This value is such that it allows modern density parameters to have a value close to critical.
3. Inflationary expansion leads to the emergence of density fluctuations with a certain amplitude and spectrum shape. This makes it possible for these oscillations (fluctuations) to develop into the current structure of the Universe, while maintaining large-scale homogeneity and isotropy. This is a solution to the problem of the large-scale structure of the Universe.

The main disadvantage of the inflation model can be considered its dependence on theories that have not yet been proven and are not fully developed.

For example, the model is based on the unified field theory, which is still just a hypothesis. It cannot be tested experimentally in laboratory conditions. Another drawback of the model is the incomprehensibility of where the superheated and expanding matter came from. Three possibilities are considered here:

1. The standard Big Bang theory suggests the onset of inflation at a very early stage in the evolution of the Universe. But then the problem of singularity is not resolved.
2. The second possibility is the emergence of the Universe from chaos. Different parts of it had different temperatures, so compression occurred in some places, and expansion occurred in others. Inflation would have occurred in a region of the Universe that was overheated and expanding. But it is not clear where the primary chaos came from.
3. The third option is the quantum mechanical path, through which a clump of superheated and expanding matter arose. In fact, the Universe came into being out of nothing.

Scientific methods in studying the Universe have led to the formation of clear and evidence-based concepts of its origin, but not everyone agreed with them.

The two world wars not only brought grief and death, but also contributed to the dramatic development of technology and scientific knowledge, which, in turn, allowed scientists to look deeper into Pandora's box in search of answers to their questions. This was followed by a real boom in theories, assumptions and opinions about the origin of the Universe, but will they ever come to a common denominator?

Modern scientific theories

Today, the majority of the scientific community takes the Big Bang theory as the basis for studying the Universe (and no, we are not talking about the series), but it is far from perfect.

The beginning of modern theories about the origin and formation of the Universe was laid by one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. - . Within the framework of the well-known theory of relativity, he worked on the so-called equations. Combined into one system, they represented a description of the fundamental cosmic phenomenon - gravity. However, there was an error in the model of the Universe that Einstein created. He introduced the cosmological constant into the equation, represented by the Greek letter lambda (Λ). Here, an error crept into the great scientist’s initial ideas about the Universe: he assumed the stationary nature of the Universe. Later, Einstein changed his point of view, but lambda remained in the equation as an optional quantity, recalling that even the greatest minds of mankind are dependent on the development of technology.

Albert Einstein. janeb13/pixabay.com (CC0 1.0)

The turtle and the elephants standing on it are a thing of the past - science has moved forward by leaps and bounds. As the Russian scientist Vernadsky argued at the beginning of the 20th century, there is one element that is never taken into account when studying the universe - the noosphere. It, in the mind of the scientist, represents the mind of humanity in its totality. Scientific life throughout the history of its existence has erased boundaries, merging into one organism: theories, views and opinions of scientists from all over the world were published on the pages of international journals. In one of them, in 1922, the work of the Soviet mathematician was published Alexander Fridman, in which he laid the foundations for theories about non-stationary models of the Universe. The scientist rejected the idea of ​​the finiteness of outer space and faced criticism from Einstein, but the value of scientific knowledge prevailed, and Friedman's concept was taken as true at this stage. It was subsequently confirmed by the discovery of a red shift (a decrease in the frequencies of radiation caused by the removal of its sources) Edwin Hubble.

A hundred years later, the work of both scientists formed the basis of the modern cosmological model ΛCDM, where lambda is a variable for the recently discovered dark matter.

Lambda-Cold Dark Matter, Accelerated Expansion of the Universe, Big Bang-Inflation (timeline of the universe) Design: Alex Mittelmann, Coldcreation / wikimedia.org (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The next step in the formation of the Big Bang theory was the development of science after World War II. Soviet scientist Georgy Antonovich Gamov, forced to emigrate to the USA due to a misunderstanding of his position in his homeland and a conflict with the scientific community of the Academy of Sciences (he was expelled in 1938), proposed the theory of a hot universe. In his opinion, the origin of the Universe began with a “hot” state, the confirmation of which should have been at that time theoretical microwave (relict) radiation - the thermal echoes of the Big Bang, still reaching us. Gamow's theory was born in 1946, presented in 1948, but was confirmed only by 1965. It is not surprising that it faced criticism, but it was its absence that could lead to the worst situation for the scientist - oblivion. For scientific concepts, it may be vital not only recognition, but also the controversy that flared up against them. It is worth noting that Gamow was actively involved in popularizing science and wrote his works in accessible language, trying to attract people's attention to the endless dark Universe.

Theories of a stationary universe

In response to the emerging theory, loud exclamations were heard from the stands of British astronomer Fred Hoyle, who, along with his colleagues, adhered to stationary universe theories. According to its fundamentals, there is no single point of formation or “explosion”, and the expansion of the Universe occurs as a result of the formation of matter between galaxies. Science also knows how to joke: when presenting his concept in 1949, Hoyle, trying to come up with a contemptuous name for the theory of his opponents, actually created such a memorable phrase - “Big Bang”.

As mentioned above, in 1965 the theory acquired the second component of proof of its acceptability (the first was the red shift) after the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation was confirmed.

It would seem that now the Big Bang theory should have become dominant among the scientific community, but everything turned out differently.

RIA Novosti archive, image #25981 / Vladimir Fedorenko / (CC BY 3.0)

Cold Universe Theory

The theory of the cold Universe proposed by Soviet scientists Andrei Sakharov and Yakov Zeldovich could not resist the “hot theory”, but not all the laws underlying it lost their meaning. There are gaps in the Big Bang theory, for example regarding the state of the Universe at the initial moment of the explosion (cosmological singularity), which can be filled by its “cold brother”.

Attempts to fill the remaining gaps and disassemble each element of reality piece by piece led to the emergence string theory. Its basic idea is that the smallest fundamental particle, the quark, is made up of energy patterns that vibrate like a string. Even though string theory is based on the Big Bang theory, it has given rise to many new ways of looking at reality. After all, the answer to the most important question was not given: How did it happen that life originated in our Universe?

For example, some scientists believe that our world is not the only one, but one of many parts multiverse. This theory assumes that we see only one part of reality, while the remaining elements of multidimensional space are hidden from the watchful eyes of scientists. Also, according to the multiverse hypothesis, each universe has its own set of constants, physical quantities and characteristics, the combination of which could well lead to the emergence of life in one of them - ours.

Theories create new theories

The endless budding of scientific thought cannot be stopped. The emergence of life, based on the multiverse and string theory hypotheses, suggests that someone figured out the necessary conditions down to the smallest detail, so to speak, produced "fine-tuning the universe".

In addition to the theory of the multiverse, based on the “tuning”, two specific views about the origin of the Universe arose.

The first of them takes us back to the distant past. According to a number of scientists who are not particularly popular in the scientific community, the Universe was created by an intelligent creator: God, the Devil, Buddha, or just a programmer Vasya, it doesn’t matter that much. This look is called "intelligent design" and the mark “pseudoscientific”.