This is the hot topic in astrophysics right now -- the first evidence of traces of the cosmic "inflation" that followed the Big Bang. Read this article from Science News for Students to find out more:
Waves from the birth of time
Monday, March 31, 2014
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1. Scientists have found traces of photons in space, and believe them to be remains from the Big Bang.
ReplyDelete2. The Scientists used a telescope located in Antarctica.
3. They wonder if there are patterns to be found that can help us answer further questions about the Big Bang, and the Inflation theory.
4. I think that this evidence is not enough to prove the Inflation Theory, because the photons could have come from stars, not just the Big Bang.
I agree with everything you said but I would have to point out a defect in your material. I didn't see nearly enough evidence to support your way of thinking. You stated the right facts to your credit but again, a bit more detail would help your ideas. Why do you believe that these photons came from stars, isn't it possible that in fact they came from other things not possible for the human brain to recall? It's something to think about especially in our future space travel.
DeleteAndrew Bosiago
I don't agree with everything you said. The reason that these findings are so important is because the photons that the scientists found with the BICEP2 telescope had "twists and turns in the patterns of the microwave photons. Kovac’s group now concludes that gravitational waves are the only plausible explanation for that." This means that these peculiar photons were directly affected by a gravitational "wave" These gravitational waves would have been created by the Big Bang theory. While this isn't evidence proving the Big Bang theory, this surely makes it more plausible.
DeleteSome things to consider:
- Where else could the gravitational "waves" have come from?
- Why did these change the composition of the photons?
- What else could have happened that the scientists hadn't considered?
Ryan L. C Block
ReplyDelete1. Scientists have discovered photons that behaved in a way that could only be because of gravitational waves from the Big Bang.
2. They used a telescope, setup in Antarctica called the BICEP2. This telescope could study the behavior of photons.
3. They still don't have a lot of evidence. It's just this one way that the photons, that act like microwave radiation, have these weird patterns that they're assuming is caused by gravitational waves. They don't have any more evidence to back this up. There's also many things that could have gone wrong while observing these protons.
4. I don't think this is enough evidence. First of all, even if all this evidence is proved, you don't know if these gravitational waves were the reason of the big bang. It could just be inflation from something else in the universe or the fact that the universe is expanding at the rate of a freight train. Honestly, I don't think anyone will ever know how the universe began. In fact, all of the universe might just all be an illusion to something of the bigger picture.
I completely agree with what you have said here Ryan. I believe also that even if these scientist prove this to be true, it still is a borderline fact. These ideas and things seen by scientists could be from something else and may have nothing else to do with the big bang.
Delete1. With their earliest find, Scientists believe that this long-sought evidence supports an idea within the scientific theory of inflation. According to this theory, the Big Bang sent rippling waves, known as “gravitational waves,” through space. These waves would alternately compress and stretch the fabric of space, so their passage should have left marks on the farthest reaches of the known universe.
ReplyDelete2. At first, scientists couldn’t be sure if inflation had actually occurred. However, they obtained evidence identifying the lingering effects of inflation on the oldest light in the universe. To reach this evidence, scientists used a telescope, placed deep in Antarctica, called BICEP2 (an abbreviation for Background Imaging of Cosmological Extragalactic Polarization). For many years scientists have known that energy, in the form of microwave radiation, had remained long after the Big Bang; BICEP2 studied this type of light. The telescope recorded the behavior of photons. Photon particles transport radiation, like a microwave signal. They concluded that gravitational waves were the only plausible explanation for reports finding twists and turns in the patterns of the microwave photons.
3. With the conformation of gravitational waves, a whole new research area has arisen; it provides new opportunities for scientists to test more ideas about the nature of the universe. However, to make sure their results didn't arise from a malfunction in the telescope or some error in their analysis, these scientists will to continue to review their data. Eight other telescopes are continuing to search for similar patterns in that early light, called cosmic microwave background radiation.
4. Their experimentation on this subject seems thorough, yet still incomplete to make an accurate conclusion about the beginning of the universe. The scientists claim that gravitational waves are the only plausible explanations. There might’ve been a chance that they have skipped over other reasonable explanations, refusing to analyze them, or that there are more explanations still left untouched and are yet to be discovered.
1.) Scientists have come across photons in Space and were able to track it down it down to its creator, the Big Bang. Scientists can now prove that the Big Bang did in fact occur. They now can focus on other experiments in different areas of astronomy using the ideas aroused from finding moving gravitational waves in Space.
ReplyDelete2.) Scientists used BICEP2, a telescope located in Antarctica to study moving photons in Space.
3.) Scientists still do not know exactly how the photons were created during the Big Bang and why they’re moving. The Scientists must track at least one set of photons and report their movements, this might lead them to something.
4.) There is not nearly enough evidence for my liking. They cannot assume that these photons came directly from the Big Bang. The Universe is vast and it hasn’t been explored, there may be things out there that we haven’t heard about yet and that be the cause of these photons roaming into our galaxy. My theory is that the photons are simply being pulled by gravitational waves coming from a variety of stars.
DeleteI see your point Mitchell and I agree with you. There is no 100% evidence that the photons were from the Big Bang. They could have been from a distant star. But I also disagree with you about the gravitational waves. In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted the existence of these waves from the Big Bang. This was part of his theory of general relativity. Many thought that he was wrong because of the lack of evidence but now these gravitational waves were found that were predicted by Einstein nearly a century ago. Einsteins theory combines with this discovery is very promising evidence that the Big Bang occurred. Overall I think that this discovery will transform science for years to come.
I partially agree with your statement. Seeing as these scientists believe gravitational laws to be the only "plausible" explanation for the twists and turns in the patterns of the microwave photons, we should hope that their evidence is scientifically sound. However, the key word here is plausible. This gives off a sense that they may only be considering explanations that agree with their own theories, rather than branching out to other explanations that still might be unknown to us. Their further experimentation should help furnish or redirect their findings. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Einstein and his theory, but I think these scientists don't have full evidence of this being the cause or existence of a Big Bang.
DeleteThis article was very fascinating. Prior to reading this I had heard about this new scientific discovery but never read an article on it. This article describes the newly discovered gravitational waves/ripples that were due to inflation that happened a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. This discovery provides solid evidence for the theory of the Big Bang and for inflation. Scientists discovered these "tell tales" from the telescope BICEP2, positioned in the south pole. This telescope picked up traces of photons in space that were thought to be from the Big Bang. These were the "oldest light". This theory was previously mentioned by Albert Einstein in the 1920's. Scientists building off of this discovery are trying to find other traces or signs left behind by the Big Bang to prove it completely. Scientists have found these gravitational waves from the state of time but they still need to work on proving that the photons are from the Inflation and not from a supernova. This is an amazing break-through discovery that gives solid evidence that proves the Inflation theory. I feel that these traces of gravitational waves and photons are excellent reasons to support the Big Bang theory but there also other parts of it missing. Overall this evidence is very strong.
ReplyDelete
DeleteI agree with your opinions here Jason. I think that this discovery provides convincing evidence to support the Big Bang theory. I think if scientists could prove that these gravitational ripples were actually from the Big Bang, it would be a great step towards understanding how our Universe was created. I am interested to see if any subsequent discoveries reveal more information. It would be quite exciting if the waves actually were created by Big Bang.
This article says that the Universe expanded faster than the speed of light right after the Big Bang. Scientists using a large telescope in Antarctica saw "disturbances" in photons in space. They observed energy left in space that they believe to be from the Big Bang. Scientists hope to use this information to prove the Inflation Theory, and discover even more about the Big Bang. I think that the evidence is convincing, but it is still not enough to cause me to believe that the Inflation Theory is true. I would like to see a second piece of strong evidence to prove the Inflation Theory.
ReplyDeleteRyan L C Block
DeleteI agree with you David in that this isn't enough evidence to prove the Inflation Theory. It would definitely help to find out more evidence to back this one up. It would help though to have more than just a second piece of evidence to support this theory. The Inflation Theory as of now is still very vague, and many more pieces of evidence will definitely be needed to make this theory into even a slight reality.
I agree, David, that there is lot’s of evidence and is convincing but isn’t enough to be certain. There is definitely going to need to be more research and they most likely will. This is such a big deal that no one will say much more about it though until there is much more evidence, which is a good thing.
Delete1. Scientists have found Photons in space that show that the Big Bang did happen because of the way they behave
ReplyDelete2. They used a Telescope in Antarctica called BICEP2 to see the behavior of photons
3. They are not certain that the photons were created during the Big Bang so they need to do more research to be 100% certain, even though they are pretty sure they are
4. I think that the evidence they found is pretty good but not enough to be certain. It is entirely possible they are not from the Big Bang and came from stars or possibly something else humans haven’t discovered yet.
Scientists have recently found signs that could possibly prove the Big Bang theory. Their findings include photons with "twists and turns in the patterns of the microwave photons." These findings were provided by a high-tech BICEP2 telescope in Antarctica. The scientists told the associated press that they wanted to go back over their findings to make sure that they hadn't missed/or misinterpreted anything.
ReplyDeleteIf their findings are conclusive, then they could start on the long path towards proving the Big Bang theory, which is a very exciting theory, with entity's moving faster than light, and unimaginably long distances for light to travel.
I completely agree with your idea’s. You did not agree with the article and I support that completely from what you have given to me as information. From the way you questioned the scientist’s results I understood how the information gathered by them could be invalid. And these particular photons may be from something else entirely.
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