1. Big Bang: timeline

2. Big Bang Timeline
13.7 billion years ago – Before the Big Bang, the universe was a hot point ( ) of pure energy :
Tremendous levels of radiation and heat prevented particles of matter from forming.

3. Big Bang Timeline 10 - 36 sec - 10 - 32 sec –
Inflation Epoch - A sort of “reverse gravity” ballooned the universe to about a trillion trillion times bigger diameter (from a pinpoint to about the size of a grain of sand!!).

4. Big Bang Timeline 10 - 32 sec after the Big Bang
“Quark Soup” (Quark / Gluon Plasma)
The 4 forces separate:
Gravity
Strong Nuclear Force
Weak Nuclear Force
Electromagnetic Force…

5. Big Bang Timeline 10 - 32 sec after the Big Bang
“Quark Soup” (Quark / Gluon Plasma)
…leaving a superhot, charged plasma of the tiniest particles of matter:
Quarks Leptons
electrons
& neutrinos

6. Big Bang Timeline (This mess is nicknamed “Quark Soup”.)
The Universe is still only the size of a tennis ball at this point,
but it’s growing like crazy!!)

7. Big Bang Timeline 10 - 6 sec (1/1,000,000 sec) – 1 sec after Big Bang
As the universe expands, it cools off quickly.
The ambient temperature in the universe drops to a mere 1 trillion degrees…
…as the Universe has expands rapidly until it reaches 80 billion miles across.

8. Big Bang Timeline
Proton
sec (1/1,000,000 sec) - 1 sec after the Big Bang
It is cool enough that quarks collide and join to form protons & neutrons
Neutron

9. Big Bang Timeline
These protons are the first atomic nuclei (of hydrogen atoms).
Most hydrogen atoms are as old as the universe.
Proton

10. anti-quarks joined to form anti-protons and anti-neutrons.
Big Bang Timeline
sec (1/1,000,000 sec) - 1 sec
( continued)
Note: At the same time:
anti-quarks joined to form
anti-protons and
anti-neutrons.

11. Big Bang Timeline 10 - 5 sec (1/100,000 sec) (cont.)
Much of the matter and all of the
anti-matter annihilated each other,
filling the universe with huge amounts of
radiation.

12. Big Bang Timeline annihilated each other,
sec (1/100,000 sec) (cont.)
Much of the matter and all
of the anti-matter
annihilated each other,
filling the universe
with huge amounts of
radiation.

13. 3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Universe expands to form a thermonuclear fireball trillion miles across!
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Universe expands to form a
thermonuclear fireball
1.3 trillion miles across!

14. Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Neutrons and protons collide and finally stick together to form Helium (He) nuclei…
(held together by the strong nuclear force)

15. Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Neutrons and protons collide and finally stick together to form Helium (He) nuclei…
(held together by the strong nuclear force)

16. Big Bang Timeline …(and just a handful of Lithium (Li) nuclei).
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
…(and just a handful of
Lithium (Li) nuclei).
Evidence:
The universe is still
99.9 % H and He today.
(92.7 % H and 7.2 % He)

17. Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Primordial Nucleosynthesis
Neutrons and protons collide to form Helium (He) nuclei…
3He

18. Big Bang Timeline 3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
As the fireball expands to a couple of 1000 times bigger than our solar system:
Temperatures drop below
1 billiono C for the first time.

19. Big Bang Timeline Electrons are flying around unattached
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
Electrons are flying
around unattached
to atoms, trapping
photons of light,
ultraviolet and x-ray
radiation and keeping
the universe opaque.
opaque.

20. Beryllium “Bottleneck”
Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang
These “cooler” temperatures cause fusion reactions
to stop before
larger elements
can form.
Beryllium “Bottleneck”

21. Big Bang Timeline
3 min - 20 minutes after the Big Bang These “cooler” temperatures cause fusion reactions to stop before larger elements can form.
Evidence: the universe is still
99.9 % Hydrogen & Helium today!

22. Big Bang Timeline 380,000 years later - Temperature drops to 3000o C.
The universe had grown a lot (about 42 million ly across), but it was still 1100 X smaller than it is today.

23. Big Bang Timeline 380,000 years later - Temperature drops to 3000o C.
Electrons slow down…

24. Big Bang Timeline 380,000 years later -
…and start to orbit the atomic nuclei to make atoms of hydrogen,
helium
and
lithium.
Lithium
Helium

25. Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued
Matter and energy decouple (separate from each other) as atoms form.
Photons of light and neutrinos stopped interacting with electrons and are no longer “trapped”.

26. Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued
This decoupling released huge amounts of gamma rays and cosmic rays.
Decoupling also cleared up the universe, which became transparent..
transparent

27. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued
This high energy radiation has cooled off to become the
still seen today.
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

28. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Big Bang Timeline
380,000 years later – continued
discovered by Penzias and Wilson
Studied in greater detail, first by the COBE and more recently by the WMAP space exploration projects.
These images show the universe as it appeared 13.7 billion years ago.
(See next frame.)
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

29. Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation (WMAP Satellite Shows a More Detailed Image)
COBE
WMAP

30. Deep Field Telescope View of the Early Galaxies
Big Bang Timeline
Deep Field Telescope View of the Early Galaxies
500 Million to 1 Billion Years Later (12.7 b.y. ago)
Gravity causes clouds of H and He to condense into lumpy pockets called galaxies (about 100 billion of them!).
(The pockets of intense radiation on the WMAP are thought to be the sources of the first galaxies.)

31. Big Bang Timeline 500 Million to 1 Billion Years Later (12.7 b.y. ago)
The Pleiades – An Open
Star Cluster
500 Million to 1 Billion Years Later (12.7 b.y. ago)
Within each galaxy, smaller balls of H and He were pulled inward by gravity and the first stars were formed.
The first stars were composed entirely of H and He.

32. Big Bang Timeline 500 Million to 1 Billion Years Later (12.7 b.y. ago)
These first stars were 100X more massive than the sun and
“burned out” much more quickly than our sun:
Early Stars: 1 – 3 million years
Our Sun: 10 billion years

33. Big Bang Timeline Galaxies evolve and form clusters.
3 Billion Years After the Big Bang to Today-
Galaxies evolve and form clusters.
Stars die out and spew heavier elements into space.

34. 9.1 Billion Years After the Big Bang (4.6 billion years ago)
Big Bang Timeline
9.1 Billion Years After the Big Bang (4.6 billion years ago)
Earth’s Sun and
Solar System
formed after
750 generations of stars
had come and gone.

35. Big Bang Timeline
9.1 Billion Years After the Big Bang… (4.6 billion years ago)
(Our sun is made up
of a lot of “recycled”
parts from earlier stars,
not just H & He, but
Li, C,O, Na, Ca, Fe
and many others.

36. First Galaxies and Stars 1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
Big Bang Timeline
First Galaxies and Stars
“Quark Soup”
He & Li Nuclei
Atoms Form
Today
Galaxies Evolve
Our Sun
Pure Energy
1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
The Skies Clear…
13.7 Billion years
380,000 years
9 Billion Years
10-6 sec
3 min
3 Billion Years

37. A Stanmo Production Thanks to NASA and JPL for the great pix. 2008

38. The Big Crunch??

39. Matter & the fate of the universe
Not Enough Matter
Just Enough Matter
Too Much Matter

40. Big Bang Timeline P+ & N0 Combine to form He & Li Nuclei
First Galaxies and Stars
“Quark Soup”
Atoms Form
Today
Galaxies Evolve
Our Sun
1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
Pure Energy
The Skies Clear…
380,000 years
13.7 Billion years
9 Billion Years
10-6 sec
3 min
3 Billion Years

41. 1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
Big Bang Timeline
“Quark Soup”
He & Li Nuclei
Atoms Form
Today
First Galaxies
First Stars
Our Sun
Pure Energy
1st Protons (H Nuclei) & Neutrons
The Skies Clear…
13.7 Billion years
380,000 years
3 Billion Years
9 Billion Years
10-6 sec
3 min

42. Big Bang Timeline
sec – “Quark Soup”
Know the
"Big Four"