UNIVERSE

Over a very long time and a great deal of thought, scientists developed a theory. Today many scientists think that there was a time before time when all matter, all energy, and all space was condensed into something the size of a pinpoint. This was our Universe in the moment before its birth. Then a huge explosion occurred, one that produced nothing but hot energy. In the first few minutes the universe expanded to 2,000 times the size of our Sun.

About 300,000 years later, when things cooled, atoms formed. The elements hydrogen and helium were created: Gravity brought them together in clumps. These clumps became the seeds of galaxies. Stars formed, including the Sun, our closest star. It took a long time for the universe to form. Scientists refer to the formation of the universe as the Big Bang theory. Other theories have also been offered, but the Bing Bang has the widest acceptance.

There were no eyewitnesses, so it’s impossible to be absolutely sure what really happened and we probably will never know. It’s unlikely that Big Bang theory, or any other theory, will ever be proved as fact. Our planets revolve around the Sun, and our Solar system moves along the spiral arms of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Gravity holds together this galaxy made up of billions of stars, dust, and gas. The Milky Way is just one of the millions of galaxies scattered across the universe. In between galaxies are enormous voids, or spaces full of nothing.