Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Universe shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Universe offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Universe at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Universe? Wrong! If the Universe is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Universe then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Universe? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Universe and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Universe wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Universe then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Universe site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Universe, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Universe, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

The Universe is defined as the summation of all particles and energy that exist and the space-time in which all events occur. Based on observations of the portion of the Universe that is observable universe, physicists attempt to describe the whole of space-time, including all matter and energy and events which occur, as a single system corresponding to a mathematical model.

The generally accepted scientific theory which describes the origin and evolution of the Universe is Big Bang physical cosmology, which describes the expansion of space from an extremely hot and dense state of unknown characteristics. The Universe underwent a rapid period of cosmic inflation that flattened out nearly all initial irregularities in the energy density; thereafter the universe expanded and became steadily cooler and less dense. Minor variations in the distribution of mass resulted in hierarchical segregation of the features that are found in the current universe; such as galaxy cluster and superclusters of galaxy. There are more than one hundred billion (1011) galaxies in the Universe, each containing hundreds of billions of stars, with each star containing about 1057 atoms of hydrogen.

Etymology The word "universe" is derived from Old French univers, from Latin universum, which combines uni- (the combining form of unus, or "one") with versus (perfect passive participle of vertere, or "turn"). The word, therefore, means "all turned into one" or "revolving as one" or "orbiting as one".

Name of our Universe In the same way that the Moon refers to our (Earth's) moon, the Universe is used by some cosmologists to refer to our Universe. In this article, the Universe is equivalent to our observable Universe.

Theoretical physics and Physical cosmology vary in their usage of the term the Universe to mean either this whole system or just a part of this system. JSTOR: One Universe or Many?

As used by observational cosmologists, the Universe most frequently refers to the finite part of space-time. The Universe is directly observable by making discovery (observation)s using telescopes and other detectors, and by using the methods of theoretical and empirical physics for studying its components. Physical cosmologists assume that the observable part of (comoving coordinates) space (also called our universe) corresponds to a part of a model of the whole of space, and usually not to the whole space. They use the term the Universe ambiguously to mean either the observable part of space, the observable part of space-time, or the entire space-time.

In order to clarify terminology, George Ellis, U. Kirchner and W.R. Stoeger recommend using the term the Universe for the theoretical model of all of the connected space-time in which we live, universe domain for the observable universe or a similar part of the same space-time, universe for a general space-time (either our own Universe or another one disconnected from our own), multiverse for a set of disconnected space-times, and multi-domain universe to refer to a model of the whole of a single connected space-time in the sense of chaotic inflation models.

Observable portion A majority of cosmologists believe that the observable universe is an extremely tiny part of the whole universe and that it is impossible to observe the whole of comoving coordinates space. It is presently unknown if this is correct, and remains under debate. According to studies of the shape of the Universe, it is possible that the observable universe is of nearly the same size as the whole of space.{{cite conference | first = Jean-Pierre | last = Luminet | authorlink = | coauthors = Boudewijn F. Roukema | title = Topology of the Universe: Theory and Observations | booktitle = Proceedings of Cosmology School held at Cargese, Corsica, August 1998 | pages = | publisher = | date = 1999 | location = | url = http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9901364 | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2007-01-05--> If a version of the [cosmic inflation scenario is correct, then there is no known way to determine if the whole universe is finite or [infinite. If it is infinite, the observable Universe is just a tiny speck of the whole universe.

Theory Theoretical physics study models of the whole of space-time which is topology together, and search for models which are consistent with physical cosmologists' model of space-time on the scale of the observable universe. Their models are speculative but use the methods of theoretical physics.

Multiverse Some theorists extend their model of "all of space-time" beyond a single connected space-time to a set of disconnected space-times, or multiverse (science).

For example, matter that falls into a black hole in our universe could emerge as a Big Bang, starting another universe. However, all such ideas are currently untestable and cannot be regarded as anything more than speculation. The concept of parallel universes is understood only when related to string theory. String theorist Michio Kaku offered several explanations to possible Parallel universe (fiction) phenomena.

Physicist David Deutsch suggests that a multiverse is a consequence of the many-worlds interpretation, which he considers to be the best alternative explanation to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics first presented by Niels Bohr, over half a century ago.

Evolution Formation The most important result of physical cosmology—that the universe is metric expansion of space—is derived from redshift observations and quantified by Hubble's Law. That is, astronomers observe that there is a direct relationship between the distance to a remote object (such as a galaxy) and the velocity with which it is receding. Conversely, if this expansion has continued over the entire age of the universe, then in the past, these distant, receding objects must once have been closer together.

By extrapolating this expansion back in time, one approaches a gravitational singularity where everything in the universe was compressed into an infinitesimal point; an abstract mathematical concept that may or may not correspond to reality. This idea gave rise to the Big Bang Theory, the dominant model in cosmology today.

During the earliest era of the big bang theory, the universe is believed to have formed a hot, dense Plasma (physics). As expansion proceeded, the temperature steadily dropped until a point was reached when atoms could form. At about this time the background energy (in the form of photons) became decoupled from the matter, and was free to travel through space. The left-over energy continued to cool as the universe expanded, and today it forms the cosmic microwave background radiation. This background radiation is remarkably uniform in all directions, which cosmologists have attempted to explain by an early period of inflationary expansion following the Big Bang.

Examination of small variations in the microwave background radiation provides information about the nature of the universe, including the age and composition. The age of the universe from the time of the Big Bang, according to current information provided by NASA's WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe), is estimated to be about 13.7 1000000000 (number) (13.7 × 109) years, with a margin of error of about 1 % (± 200 million years). Other methods of estimation give different ages ranging from 11 billion to 20 billion. {{cite web | last =Britt | first =Robert Roy | title =Age of Universe Revised, Again | work = | publisher =[space.com |date=[2003-01-03 | url =http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/age_universe_030103.html | accessdate = 2007-01-08--> Most of the estimates cluster in the 13–15 billion year range.{{cite web | last =Wright | first =Edward L | title =Age of the Universe | publisher =[UCLA |date=2005 | url =http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html | accessdate = 2007-01-08-->

In the 1977 book The First Three Minutes, Nobel Prize-winner Steven Weinberg laid out the physics of what happened just moments after the Big Bang. Additional discoveries and refinements of theories prompted him to update and reissue that book in 1993.

Pre-matter soup Until recently, the first hundredth of a second after the Big Bang was a mystery, leaving Weinberg and others unable to describe exactly what the universe would have been like during this period. New experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven National Laboratory have provided physicists with a glimpse through this curtain of high energy, so they can directly observe the sorts of behavior that might have been taking place in this time frame.

At these energies, the quarks that comprise protons and neutrons (ups and downs) were not yet joined together, and a dense, superhot mix of quarks and gluons, with some electrons thrown in, was all that could exist in the microseconds before it cooled enough to form into the sort of matter particles we observe today.

Protogalaxies Moving forward to after the existence of matter, more information is coming in on the formation of galaxies. It is believed that the earliest galaxies were tiny "dwarf galaxies" that released so much radiation they stripped gas atoms of their electrons. This gas, in turn, heated up and expanded, and thus was able to obtain the mass needed to form the larger galaxies that we know today.

Current telescopes are just now beginning to have the capacity to observe the galaxies from this distant time. Studying the light from quasars, they observe how it passes through the intervening gas clouds. The ionization of these gas clouds is determined by the number of nearby bright galaxies, and if such galaxies are spread around, the ionization level should be constant. It turns out that in galaxies from the period after cosmic reionization there are large fluctuations in this ionization level. The evidence seems to confirm the pre-ionization galaxies were less common and that the post-ionization galaxies have 100 times the mass of the dwarf galaxies.

The next generation of telescopes should be able to see the dwarf galaxies directly, which will help resolve the problem that many astronomical predictions in galaxy formation theory predict more nearby small galaxies.

Ultimate fate Depending on the average density of matter and energy in the universe, it will either keep on expanding forever or it will be gravitationally slowed down and will eventually collapse back on itself in a "Big Crunch". Currently the evidence suggests not only that there is insufficient mass/energy to cause a recollapse, but that the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating and will accelerate for eternity (see accelerating universe). Potential consequences of this revelation lends credence to the Big Rip, the Big Freeze, and Heat death of the universe theories. For a more detailed discussion of other theories, see the ultimate fate of the universe.

Composition The currently observable universe appears to have a geometrically flat space-time containing the equivalent mass-energy density of 9.9 × 10-30 grams per cubic centimetre. This mass-energy appears to consist of 73% dark energy, 23% cold dark matter and 4% atoms. Thus the density of atoms is on the order of a single hydrogen nucleus (or atom) for every four cubic meters of volume. The exact nature of dark energy and cold dark matter remain a mystery.

During the early phases of the big bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter were formed. However, through a CP-violation, physical processes resulted in an asymmetry in the amount of matter as compared to anti-matter. This asymmetry explains the amount of residual matter found in the universe today, as nearly all the matter and anti-matter would otherwise have annihilated each other when they came into contact.

Prior to the formation of the first stars, the chemical composition of the Universe consisted primarily of hydrogen (75% of total mass), with a lesser amount of helium-4 (4He) (24% of total mass) and trace amounts of the isotopes deuterium (2H), helium-3 (3He) and lithium (7Li). Subsequently the interstellar medium within galaxies has been steadily enriched by heavier elements. These are introduced as a result of supernova explosions, stellar winds and the expulsion of the outer envelope of evolved stars.

The big bang left behind a background flux of photons and neutrinos. The temperature of the background radiation has steadily decreased as the universe expands, and now primarily consists of microwave energy equivalent to a temperature of 2.725 Kelvin. The neutrino background is not observable with present-day technology, but is theorized to have a density of about 150 neutrinos per cubic centimetre.

Physical structure Size .

Very little is known about the size of the universe. It may be 1000000000000 (number)#1012 of light years across, or even infinite in size. A 2003 paperNeil J. Cornish, David N. Spergel, Glenn D. Starkman, and Eiichiro Komatsu, Constraining the Topology of the Universe. astro-ph/0310233 claims to establish a lower bound of 24 gigaparsecs (78 billion light years) on the size of the universe, but there is no reason to believe that this bound is anywhere near tight. See shape of the Universe for more information.

The observable (or visible) universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The comoving distance to the edge of the visible universe is about 46.5 billion light years in all directions from the earth; thus the visible universe may be thought of as a perfect sphere with the Earth at its center and a diameter of about 93 billion light years. Note that many sources have reported a wide variety of incorrect figures for the size of the visible universe, ranging from 13.7 to 180 billion light years. See Observable universe#Misconceptions for a list of incorrect figures published in the popular press with explanations of each.

Shape An important open question of cosmology is the shape of the universe. Mathematically, which manifold best represents the spatial part of the universe?

Firstly, whether the universe is spatially flat, i.e. whether the rules of Euclidean geometry are valid on the largest scales, is unknown. Currently, most cosmologists believe that the observable universe is very nearly spatially flat, with local wrinkles where massive objects distort spacetime, just as the surface of a lake is nearly flat. This opinion was strengthened by the latest data from WMAP, looking at "acoustic oscillations" in the cosmic microwave background radiation temperature variations.http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_content.html

Secondly, whether the universe is multiply connected is unknown. The universe has no spatial boundary according to the standard Big Bang model, but nevertheless may be spatially finite (compact space). This can be understood using a two-dimensional analogy: the surface of a sphere has no edge, but nonetheless has a finite area. It is a two-dimensional surface with constant curvature in a third dimension. The 3-sphere is a three-dimensional equivalent in which all three dimensions are constantly curved in a fourth.

If the universe were compact and without boundary, it would be possible after traveling a sufficient distance to arrive back where one began. Hence, the light from stars and galaxies could pass through the observable universe more than once. If the universe were multiply-connected and sufficiently small (and of an appropriate, perhaps complex, shape) then conceivably one might be able to see once or several times around it in some (or all) directions. Although this possibility has not been ruled out, the results of the latest cosmic microwave background research make this appear very unlikely.

Homogeneity and isotropy While there is considerable fractalized structure at the local level (arranged in a hierarchy of clustering), on the highest orders of distance the universe is very homogeneous. On these scales the density of the universe is very uniform, and there is no preferred direction or significant asymmetry to the universe. This homogeneity is a requirement of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric employed in modern cosmological models.

The question of anisotropy in the early universe was significantly answered by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which looked for fluctuations in the microwave background intensity. The measurements of this anisotropy have provided useful information and constraints about the evolution of the universe.

To the limit of the observing power of astronomical instruments, objects radiate and absorb energy according to the same physical laws as they do within our own galaxy. Based on this, it is believed that the same physical laws and constants are universally applicable throughout the observable universe. No confirmed evidence has yet been found to show that physical constants have varied since the big bang, and the possible variation is becoming well constrained.

Other terms . The original was published in Paris in 1888Different words have been used throughout history to denote "all of space", including the equivalents and variants in various languages of "heavens", "cosmos", and "world". Macrocosm has also been used to this effect, although it is more specifically defined as a system that reflects in large scale one, some, or all of its component systems or parts. (Similarly, a microcosm is a system that reflects in small scale a much larger system of which it is a part.)

Although words like world and its equivalents in other languages now almost always refer to the planet Earth, they previously referred to everything that exists—see Copernicus, for example—and still sometimes do (as in "the whole wide world"). Some languages use the word for "world" as part of the word for Outer space, e.g. in the German language word "Weltraum".Albert Einstein (1952). Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Fifteenth Edition), ISBN 0-517-88441-0.

Notes and references See also

External links

The Universe is defined as the summation of all particles and energy that exist and the space-time in which all events occur. Based on observations of the portion of the Universe that is observable universe, physicists attempt to describe the whole of space-time, including all matter and energy and events which occur, as a single system corresponding to a mathematical model.

The generally accepted scientific theory which describes the origin and evolution of the Universe is Big Bang physical cosmology, which describes the expansion of space from an extremely hot and dense state of unknown characteristics. The Universe underwent a rapid period of cosmic inflation that flattened out nearly all initial irregularities in the energy density; thereafter the universe expanded and became steadily cooler and less dense. Minor variations in the distribution of mass resulted in hierarchical segregation of the features that are found in the current universe; such as galaxy cluster and superclusters of galaxy. There are more than one hundred billion (1011) galaxies in the Universe, each containing hundreds of billions of stars, with each star containing about 1057 atoms of hydrogen.

Etymology The word "universe" is derived from Old French univers, from Latin universum, which combines uni- (the combining form of unus, or "one") with versus (perfect passive participle of vertere, or "turn"). The word, therefore, means "all turned into one" or "revolving as one" or "orbiting as one".

Name of our Universe In the same way that the Moon refers to our (Earth's) moon, the Universe is used by some cosmologists to refer to our Universe. In this article, the Universe is equivalent to our observable Universe.

Theoretical physics and Physical cosmology vary in their usage of the term the Universe to mean either this whole system or just a part of this system. JSTOR: One Universe or Many?

As used by observational cosmologists, the Universe most frequently refers to the finite part of space-time. The Universe is directly observable by making discovery (observation)s using telescopes and other detectors, and by using the methods of theoretical and empirical physics for studying its components. Physical cosmologists assume that the observable part of (comoving coordinates) space (also called our universe) corresponds to a part of a model of the whole of space, and usually not to the whole space. They use the term the Universe ambiguously to mean either the observable part of space, the observable part of space-time, or the entire space-time.

In order to clarify terminology, George Ellis, U. Kirchner and W.R. Stoeger recommend using the term the Universe for the theoretical model of all of the connected space-time in which we live, universe domain for the observable universe or a similar part of the same space-time, universe for a general space-time (either our own Universe or another one disconnected from our own), multiverse for a set of disconnected space-times, and multi-domain universe to refer to a model of the whole of a single connected space-time in the sense of chaotic inflation models.

Observable portion A majority of cosmologists believe that the observable universe is an extremely tiny part of the whole universe and that it is impossible to observe the whole of comoving coordinates space. It is presently unknown if this is correct, and remains under debate. According to studies of the shape of the Universe, it is possible that the observable universe is of nearly the same size as the whole of space.{{cite conference | first = Jean-Pierre | last = Luminet | authorlink = | coauthors = Boudewijn F. Roukema | title = Topology of the Universe: Theory and Observations | booktitle = Proceedings of Cosmology School held at Cargese, Corsica, August 1998 | pages = | publisher = | date = 1999 | location = | url = http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9901364 | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2007-01-05--> If a version of the [cosmic inflation scenario is correct, then there is no known way to determine if the whole universe is finite or [infinite. If it is infinite, the observable Universe is just a tiny speck of the whole universe.

Theory Theoretical physics study models of the whole of space-time which is topology together, and search for models which are consistent with physical cosmologists' model of space-time on the scale of the observable universe. Their models are speculative but use the methods of theoretical physics.

Multiverse Some theorists extend their model of "all of space-time" beyond a single connected space-time to a set of disconnected space-times, or multiverse (science).

For example, matter that falls into a black hole in our universe could emerge as a Big Bang, starting another universe. However, all such ideas are currently untestable and cannot be regarded as anything more than speculation. The concept of parallel universes is understood only when related to string theory. String theorist Michio Kaku offered several explanations to possible Parallel universe (fiction) phenomena.

Physicist David Deutsch suggests that a multiverse is a consequence of the many-worlds interpretation, which he considers to be the best alternative explanation to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics first presented by Niels Bohr, over half a century ago.

Evolution Formation The most important result of physical cosmology—that the universe is metric expansion of space—is derived from redshift observations and quantified by Hubble's Law. That is, astronomers observe that there is a direct relationship between the distance to a remote object (such as a galaxy) and the velocity with which it is receding. Conversely, if this expansion has continued over the entire age of the universe, then in the past, these distant, receding objects must once have been closer together.

By extrapolating this expansion back in time, one approaches a gravitational singularity where everything in the universe was compressed into an infinitesimal point; an abstract mathematical concept that may or may not correspond to reality. This idea gave rise to the Big Bang Theory, the dominant model in cosmology today.

During the earliest era of the big bang theory, the universe is believed to have formed a hot, dense Plasma (physics). As expansion proceeded, the temperature steadily dropped until a point was reached when atoms could form. At about this time the background energy (in the form of photons) became decoupled from the matter, and was free to travel through space. The left-over energy continued to cool as the universe expanded, and today it forms the cosmic microwave background radiation. This background radiation is remarkably uniform in all directions, which cosmologists have attempted to explain by an early period of inflationary expansion following the Big Bang.

Examination of small variations in the microwave background radiation provides information about the nature of the universe, including the age and composition. The age of the universe from the time of the Big Bang, according to current information provided by NASA's WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe), is estimated to be about 13.7 1000000000 (number) (13.7 × 109) years, with a margin of error of about 1 % (± 200 million years). Other methods of estimation give different ages ranging from 11 billion to 20 billion. {{cite web | last =Britt | first =Robert Roy | title =Age of Universe Revised, Again | work = | publisher =[space.com |date=[2003-01-03 | url =http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/age_universe_030103.html | accessdate = 2007-01-08--> Most of the estimates cluster in the 13–15 billion year range.{{cite web | last =Wright | first =Edward L | title =Age of the Universe | publisher =[UCLA |date=2005 | url =http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html | accessdate = 2007-01-08-->

In the 1977 book The First Three Minutes, Nobel Prize-winner Steven Weinberg laid out the physics of what happened just moments after the Big Bang. Additional discoveries and refinements of theories prompted him to update and reissue that book in 1993.

Pre-matter soup Until recently, the first hundredth of a second after the Big Bang was a mystery, leaving Weinberg and others unable to describe exactly what the universe would have been like during this period. New experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven National Laboratory have provided physicists with a glimpse through this curtain of high energy, so they can directly observe the sorts of behavior that might have been taking place in this time frame.

At these energies, the quarks that comprise protons and neutrons (ups and downs) were not yet joined together, and a dense, superhot mix of quarks and gluons, with some electrons thrown in, was all that could exist in the microseconds before it cooled enough to form into the sort of matter particles we observe today.

Protogalaxies Moving forward to after the existence of matter, more information is coming in on the formation of galaxies. It is believed that the earliest galaxies were tiny "dwarf galaxies" that released so much radiation they stripped gas atoms of their electrons. This gas, in turn, heated up and expanded, and thus was able to obtain the mass needed to form the larger galaxies that we know today.

Current telescopes are just now beginning to have the capacity to observe the galaxies from this distant time. Studying the light from quasars, they observe how it passes through the intervening gas clouds. The ionization of these gas clouds is determined by the number of nearby bright galaxies, and if such galaxies are spread around, the ionization level should be constant. It turns out that in galaxies from the period after cosmic reionization there are large fluctuations in this ionization level. The evidence seems to confirm the pre-ionization galaxies were less common and that the post-ionization galaxies have 100 times the mass of the dwarf galaxies.

The next generation of telescopes should be able to see the dwarf galaxies directly, which will help resolve the problem that many astronomical predictions in galaxy formation theory predict more nearby small galaxies.

Ultimate fate Depending on the average density of matter and energy in the universe, it will either keep on expanding forever or it will be gravitationally slowed down and will eventually collapse back on itself in a "Big Crunch". Currently the evidence suggests not only that there is insufficient mass/energy to cause a recollapse, but that the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating and will accelerate for eternity (see accelerating universe). Potential consequences of this revelation lends credence to the Big Rip, the Big Freeze, and Heat death of the universe theories. For a more detailed discussion of other theories, see the ultimate fate of the universe.

Composition The currently observable universe appears to have a geometrically flat space-time containing the equivalent mass-energy density of 9.9 × 10-30 grams per cubic centimetre. This mass-energy appears to consist of 73% dark energy, 23% cold dark matter and 4% atoms. Thus the density of atoms is on the order of a single hydrogen nucleus (or atom) for every four cubic meters of volume. The exact nature of dark energy and cold dark matter remain a mystery.

During the early phases of the big bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter were formed. However, through a CP-violation, physical processes resulted in an asymmetry in the amount of matter as compared to anti-matter. This asymmetry explains the amount of residual matter found in the universe today, as nearly all the matter and anti-matter would otherwise have annihilated each other when they came into contact.

Prior to the formation of the first stars, the chemical composition of the Universe consisted primarily of hydrogen (75% of total mass), with a lesser amount of helium-4 (4He) (24% of total mass) and trace amounts of the isotopes deuterium (2H), helium-3 (3He) and lithium (7Li). Subsequently the interstellar medium within galaxies has been steadily enriched by heavier elements. These are introduced as a result of supernova explosions, stellar winds and the expulsion of the outer envelope of evolved stars.

The big bang left behind a background flux of photons and neutrinos. The temperature of the background radiation has steadily decreased as the universe expands, and now primarily consists of microwave energy equivalent to a temperature of 2.725 Kelvin. The neutrino background is not observable with present-day technology, but is theorized to have a density of about 150 neutrinos per cubic centimetre.

Physical structure Size .

Very little is known about the size of the universe. It may be 1000000000000 (number)#1012 of light years across, or even infinite in size. A 2003 paperNeil J. Cornish, David N. Spergel, Glenn D. Starkman, and Eiichiro Komatsu, Constraining the Topology of the Universe. astro-ph/0310233 claims to establish a lower bound of 24 gigaparsecs (78 billion light years) on the size of the universe, but there is no reason to believe that this bound is anywhere near tight. See shape of the Universe for more information.

The observable (or visible) universe, consisting of all locations that could have affected us since the Big Bang given the finite speed of light, is certainly finite. The comoving distance to the edge of the visible universe is about 46.5 billion light years in all directions from the earth; thus the visible universe may be thought of as a perfect sphere with the Earth at its center and a diameter of about 93 billion light years. Note that many sources have reported a wide variety of incorrect figures for the size of the visible universe, ranging from 13.7 to 180 billion light years. See Observable universe#Misconceptions for a list of incorrect figures published in the popular press with explanations of each.

Shape An important open question of cosmology is the shape of the universe. Mathematically, which manifold best represents the spatial part of the universe?

Firstly, whether the universe is spatially flat, i.e. whether the rules of Euclidean geometry are valid on the largest scales, is unknown. Currently, most cosmologists believe that the observable universe is very nearly spatially flat, with local wrinkles where massive objects distort spacetime, just as the surface of a lake is nearly flat. This opinion was strengthened by the latest data from WMAP, looking at "acoustic oscillations" in the cosmic microwave background radiation temperature variations.http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_content.html

Secondly, whether the universe is multiply connected is unknown. The universe has no spatial boundary according to the standard Big Bang model, but nevertheless may be spatially finite (compact space). This can be understood using a two-dimensional analogy: the surface of a sphere has no edge, but nonetheless has a finite area. It is a two-dimensional surface with constant curvature in a third dimension. The 3-sphere is a three-dimensional equivalent in which all three dimensions are constantly curved in a fourth.

If the universe were compact and without boundary, it would be possible after traveling a sufficient distance to arrive back where one began. Hence, the light from stars and galaxies could pass through the observable universe more than once. If the universe were multiply-connected and sufficiently small (and of an appropriate, perhaps complex, shape) then conceivably one might be able to see once or several times around it in some (or all) directions. Although this possibility has not been ruled out, the results of the latest cosmic microwave background research make this appear very unlikely.

Homogeneity and isotropy While there is considerable fractalized structure at the local level (arranged in a hierarchy of clustering), on the highest orders of distance the universe is very homogeneous. On these scales the density of the universe is very uniform, and there is no preferred direction or significant asymmetry to the universe. This homogeneity is a requirement of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric employed in modern cosmological models.

The question of anisotropy in the early universe was significantly answered by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which looked for fluctuations in the microwave background intensity. The measurements of this anisotropy have provided useful information and constraints about the evolution of the universe.

To the limit of the observing power of astronomical instruments, objects radiate and absorb energy according to the same physical laws as they do within our own galaxy. Based on this, it is believed that the same physical laws and constants are universally applicable throughout the observable universe. No confirmed evidence has yet been found to show that physical constants have varied since the big bang, and the possible variation is becoming well constrained.

Other terms . The original was published in Paris in 1888Different words have been used throughout history to denote "all of space", including the equivalents and variants in various languages of "heavens", "cosmos", and "world". Macrocosm has also been used to this effect, although it is more specifically defined as a system that reflects in large scale one, some, or all of its component systems or parts. (Similarly, a microcosm is a system that reflects in small scale a much larger system of which it is a part.)

Although words like world and its equivalents in other languages now almost always refer to the planet Earth, they previously referred to everything that exists—see Copernicus, for example—and still sometimes do (as in "the whole wide world"). Some languages use the word for "world" as part of the word for Outer space, e.g. in the German language word "Weltraum".Albert Einstein (1952). Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Fifteenth Edition), ISBN 0-517-88441-0.

Notes and references See also

External links



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Universe
Simple explanation of universe in the framework of the history of the Universe ... Physical Environment > Universe Earlier 15 Billion Years ago Later

Hot Big Bang
THE HOT BIG BANG MODEL. About ten billion years ago, the Universe began in a gigantic explosion - the Hot Big Bang! Its subsequent evolution from one hundredth of a second up to ...

The Universe
Political, military and economic wargame. Players take on roles as key politicians and leaders in a human-dominated universe. Features details on the setting, factions, maps, rules ...

Universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and constants that ...

Latest news from Total Catholic
Total Catholic - from The Universe Catholic newspaper ... A priest in Italy is now celebrating Mass at a shopping centre to encourage attendance.

Fractal Universe: Home Page
The Big Bang theory was always inadequate. It tries to relegate electricity to a minor role in space. The universe consists of a series of spiral bodies of diminishing size, each ...

BBC Online - Cult - Hitchhiker's - Guide - The Universe
A Guide to the Galaxy - featuring audio and video clips and useful explainations on all subjects from mice to towels - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on BBC Online

Amazon.co.uk: Universe: Nigel Henbest, Heather Couper: Books
Amazon.co.uk: Universe: Nigel Henbest, Heather Couper: Books ... This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are.

Welcome to the History of the Universe
A short history of the universe, earth, life, explained in simple terms. Begins with the big bang theory and ends with the computer age.

 

Universe



 
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