View source for Universe

{{Short description|Everything in space and time}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox
| title            = Universe
| image            = [[File:Hubble ultra deep field.jpg|300px]]
| caption          = The [[Hubble Ultra-Deep Field]] image shows some of the most remote [[Galaxy|galaxies]] visible to present technology (diagonal is ~1/10 apparent [[Moon]] diameter)<ref name="spacetelescope.org">{{cite web |url=http://spacetelescope.org/images/heic0406a/ |title=Hubble sees galaxies galore |work=spacetelescope.org |access-date=April 30, 2017 |archive-date=May 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504043058/http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0406a/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| label1           = [[Age of the universe|Age]] (within [[Lambda-CDM model|ΛCDM model]])
| data1            = 13.787 ± 0.020 billion years<ref name="Planck 2015" />
| label2           = Diameter
| data2            = Unknown.<ref name="Brian Greene 2011" /> [[Observable universe]]: {{val|8.8|e=26|u=m}} {{nowrap|(28.5 G[[parsec|pc]] or 93 G[[light-year|ly]])}}<ref>{{cite book |first1=Itzhak|last1=Bars|first2=John|last2=Terning|title=Extra Dimensions in Space and Time |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFSMatekilIC&pg=PA27|access-date=May 1, 2011|date=2009 |publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-77637-8|pages=27–}}</ref>
| label3           = Mass (ordinary matter)
| data3            = At least {{val|e=53|u=kg}}<ref name="Paul Davies 2006 43">{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Davies|date=2006|title=The Goldilocks Enigma|pages=43ff|publisher=First Mariner Books|isbn=978-0-618-59226-5|url=https://archive.org/details/cosmicjackpotwhy0000davi|url-access=registration}}</ref>
| label4           = Average density (with [[energy]])
| data4            = {{val|9.9|e=-27|u=kg/m3}}<ref name="wmap_universe_made_of">{{cite web|author=NASA/WMAP Science Team|date=January 24, 2014|title=Universe 101: What is the Universe Made Of?|url=http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html|publisher=NASA|access-date=February 17, 2015|archive-date=March 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310235855/http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| label5           = Average temperature
| data5            = {{val|2.72548|ul=K}} ({{val|-270.4|ul=°C}}, {{val|-454.8|ul=°F}})<ref name=Fixsen>{{Cite journal |last1=Fixsen |first1=D.J. |date=2009 |title=The Temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background |journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]]|volume=707 |issue=2|pages=916–920 |arxiv=0911.1955 |bibcode=2009ApJ...707..916F |doi=10.1088/0004-637X/707/2/916|s2cid=119217397 }}</ref>
| label6           = Main contents
| data6            = [[Baryon#Baryonic matter|Ordinary (baryonic)]] [[matter]] (4.9%)<br />[[Dark matter]] (26.8%)<br />[[Dark energy]] (68.3%)<ref name="planck2013parameters" />
| label7           = Shape
| data7            = [[Shape of the universe|Flat]] with 4‰ error margin<ref>{{cite web|author=NASA/WMAP Science Team|date=January 24, 2014|url=http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html|title=Universe 101: Will the Universe expand forever?|publisher=NASA|access-date=April 16, 2015|archive-date=March 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309164248/http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

The '''universe''' is all of [[space]] and [[time]]{{efn|name=spacetime|According to [[modern physics]], particularly the [[theory of relativity]], space and time are intrinsically linked as [[spacetime]].}} and their contents.<ref name="Zeilik1998">{{cite book |title=Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics |last1=Zeilik |first1=Michael |last2=Gregory |first2=Stephen A. |date=1998 |edition=4th |publisher=Saunders College Publishing |quote=The totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be. |isbn=978-0-03-006228-5}}</ref> It comprises all of [[existence]], any [[fundamental interaction]], [[physical process]] and [[physical constant]], and therefore all forms of [[energy]] and [[matter]], and the structures they form, from [[sub-atomic particles]] to entire [[galaxies]]. Space and time, according to the prevailing [[cosmology|cosmological]] theory of the [[Big Bang]], emerged together {{val|13.787|0.020|u=billion years}} ago,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Planck Collaboration|last2=Aghanim|first2=N.|author2-link=Nabila Aghanim|last3=Akrami|first3=Y.|last4=Ashdown|first4=M.|last5=Aumont|first5=J.|last6=Baccigalupi|first6=C.|last7=Ballardini|first7=M.|last8=Banday|first8=A. J.|last9=Barreiro|first9=R. B.|last10=Bartolo|first10=N.|last11=Basak|first11=S.|date=September 2020|title=Planck 2018 results: VI. Cosmological parameters|url=https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833910|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=641|pages=A6|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201833910|arxiv=1807.06209|bibcode=2020A&A...641A...6P|s2cid=119335614|issn=0004-6361}}</ref> and the [[Expansion of the universe|universe has been expanding]] ever since. Today the universe has expanded into an age and size that is physically only in parts observable as the [[observable universe]], which is approximately 93 billion [[light-year]]s in diameter at the present day, while the spatial size, if any, of the entire universe is unknown.<ref name="Brian Greene 2011">{{cite book |first=Brian |last=Greene |author-link=Brian Greene |title=The Hidden Reality |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |date=2011|title-link=The Hidden Reality }}</ref>

Some of the earliest [[Timeline of cosmological theories|cosmological models]] of the universe were developed by [[ancient Greek philosophy|ancient Greek]] and [[Indian philosophy|Indian philosophers]] and were [[geocentric model|geocentric]], placing [[Earth]] at the center.<ref>{{cite book |title=From China to Paris: 2000 Years Transmission of Mathematical Ideas |first=Yvonne |last=Dold-Samplonius |author-link=Yvonne Dold-Samplonius|date=2002 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag}}</ref><ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |title=Medieval Science Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia |first1=Thomas F. |last1=Glick |first2=Steven |last2=Livesey |first3=Faith |last3=Wallis |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-96930-7 |oclc=61228669}}</ref> Over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] to develop the [[heliocentrism|heliocentric model]] with the [[Sun]] at the center of the [[Solar System]]. In developing the [[Newton's law of universal gravitation|law of universal gravitation]], [[Isaac Newton]] built upon Copernicus's work as well as [[Johannes Kepler]]'s [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|laws of planetary motion]] and observations by [[Tycho Brahe]].

Further observational improvements led to the realization that the Sun is one of a few hundred billion stars in the [[Milky Way]], which is one of a few hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. Many of the stars in a galaxy [[exoplanet|have planets]]. [[Observable universe#End of Greatness|At the largest scale]], galaxies are distributed uniformly and the same in all directions, meaning that the universe has neither an edge nor a center. At smaller scales, galaxies are distributed in [[galaxy cluster|clusters]] and [[supercluster]]s which form immense [[galaxy filament|filaments]] and [[void (astronomy)|voids]] in space, creating a vast foam-like structure.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RLwangEACAAJ|title=An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics|last1=Carroll|first1=Bradley W.|last2=Ostlie|first2=Dale A.|date=2013|publisher=Pearson|isbn=978-1-292-02293-2|edition=International|pages=1173–1174|language=en|access-date=May 16, 2018|archive-date=December 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228141015/https://books.google.com/books?id=RLwangEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the universe had a beginning and has been expanding since then.<ref name="Hawking">{{cite book|author=Hawking, Stephen|url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofti00step_1|title=A Brief History of Time|date=1988|publisher=Bantam Books|isbn=978-0-553-05340-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofti00step_1/page/43 43]|author-link=Stephen Hawking|url-access=registration}}</ref>

According to the Big Bang theory, the energy and matter initially present have become less dense as the universe expanded. After an initial accelerated expansion called the [[inflationary epoch]] at around 10<sup>−32</sup> seconds, and the separation of the four known [[fundamental interaction|fundamental forces]], the universe gradually cooled and continued to expand, allowing the first [[subatomic particle]]s and simple [[atom]]s to form. Giant clouds of [[hydrogen]] and [[helium]] were gradually drawn to the places where matter was most [[density|dense]], forming the first galaxies, stars, and everything else seen today.

From studying the effects of [[gravity]] on both matter and light, it has been discovered that the universe contains much more [[matter]] than is accounted for by visible objects; stars, galaxies, nebulas and interstellar gas. This unseen matter is known as [[dark matter]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Redd|first1=Nola|title=What is Dark Matter?|url=https://www.space.com/20930-dark-matter.html|website=Space.com|access-date=February 1, 2018|archive-date=February 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201075430/https://www.space.com/20930-dark-matter.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (''dark'' means that there is a wide range of strong [[circumstantial evidence|indirect evidence]] that it exists, but we have not yet detected it directly) having come into existence alongside the rest of the physical universe before gradually gathering into a [[foam]]-like structure of [[galaxy filament|filaments]] and [[void (astronomy)|voids]] and allowing other forms of matter to form together into visible structures. The [[Lambda-CDM model|ΛCDM]] model is the most widely accepted model of the universe. It suggests that about {{val|69.2|1.2|u=%}} of the mass and energy in the universe is [[dark energy]] which is responsible for the [[accelerated expansion|acceleration]] of the [[expansion of the universe]], and about {{val|25.8|1.1|u=%}} is dark matter.<ref name="planck_2015">{{Cite web |url=https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2016/10/aa27101-15/T9.html |title=Planck 2015 results, table 9 |access-date=May 16, 2018 |archive-date=July 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727024529/https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2016/10/aa27101-15/T9.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ordinary ('[[Baryon#Baryonic matter|baryonic]]') matter is therefore only {{val|4.84|0.1|u=%}} of the physical universe.<ref name="planck_2015" /> Stars, planets, and visible gas clouds only form about 6% of the ordinary matter.<ref>{{Cite journal| last1=Persic| first1=Massimo| last2=Salucci| first2=Paolo| date=September 1, 1992| title=The baryon content of the Universe| journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society| volume=258| issue=1| pages=14P–18P| doi=10.1093/mnras/258.1.14P| issn=0035-8711| arxiv=astro-ph/0502178 |bibcode=1992MNRAS.258P..14P |s2cid=17945298}}</ref>

There are many competing hypotheses about the [[ultimate fate of the universe]] and about what, if anything, preceded the Big Bang, while other physicists and philosophers refuse to speculate, doubting that information about prior states will ever be accessible. Some physicists have suggested various [[multiverse]] hypotheses, in which the universe might be one among many.<ref name="Brian Greene 2011" /><ref name="EllisKS032" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=2011-08-03|title='Multiverse' theory suggested by microwave background|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-14372387|access-date=2023-02-14}}</ref>

{{cosmology}}

== Definition ==
[[File:NASA-HubbleLegacyFieldZoomOut-20190502.webm|thumb|upright=2.7|right|<div align="center">[[Hubble Space Telescope]] – [[Hubble Ultra-Deep Field|Ultra deep field galaxies]] to Legacy field zoom out<br />(video 00:50; May 2, 2019)</div>|300px]]

The physical universe is defined as all of [[space]] and [[time]]{{efn|name=spacetime|}} (collectively referred to as [[spacetime]]) and their contents.<ref name="Zeilik1998" /> Such contents comprise all of energy in its various forms, including [[electromagnetic radiation]] and [[matter]], and therefore planets, [[natural satellite|moons]], stars, galaxies, and the contents of [[Outer space#Intergalactic space|intergalactic space]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Universe |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica online |date=2012 |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/universe |access-date=February 17, 2018 |archive-date=June 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609004717/https://www.britannica.com/science/universe |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Universe |title=Universe |work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |access-date=September 21, 2012 |archive-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022182145/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/universe |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Universe?s=t |title=Universe |work=Dictionary.com |access-date=September 21, 2012 |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023004855/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/universe?s=t |url-status=live }}</ref> The universe also includes the [[physical law]]s that influence energy and matter, such as [[conservation law]]s, [[classical mechanics]], and [[Theory of relativity|relativity]].<ref name="Schreuder2014">{{cite book|first=Duco A.|last=Schreuder|title=Vision and Visual Perception|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7a7BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|date=2014|publisher=Archway Publishing|isbn=978-1-4808-1294-9|page=135|access-date=January 27, 2016|archive-date=April 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422045606/https://books.google.com/books?id=I7a7BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|url-status=live}}</ref>

The universe is often defined as "the totality of existence", or [[everything]] that exists, everything that has existed, and everything that will exist.<ref name="Schreuder2014" /> In fact, some philosophers and scientists support the inclusion of ideas and abstract concepts—such as mathematics and logic—in the definition of the universe.{{refn|1={{cite journal |last=Tegmark |first=Max |title=The Mathematical Universe |journal=Foundations of Physics |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=101–150 |doi=10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9 |bibcode=2008FoPh...38..101T |arxiv=0704.0646 |year=2008|s2cid=9890455 }} A short version of which is available at {{cite arXiv |eprint=0709.4024 |title=Shut up and calculate|last1=Fixsen|first1=D. J.|class=physics.pop-ph|year=2007}} in reference to David Mermin's famous quote "shut up and calculate!"<ref>{{cite journal |title=Could Feynman Have Said This? |first=N. David |last=Mermin |journal=Physics Today |volume=57 |issue=5 |page=10 |date=2004 |doi=10.1063/1.1768652 |bibcode=2004PhT....57e..10M |doi-access= }}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Jim|last=Holt|title=Why Does the World Exist?|publisher=Liveright Publishing |year=2012|page=308}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Timothy|last=Ferris|title=The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1997|page=400}}</ref> The word ''universe'' may also refer to concepts such as ''the cosmos'', ''the world'', and ''nature''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Creation Out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration |page=[https://archive.org/details/creationoutofnot0000copa/page/220 220] |first1=Paul |last1=Copan |author2=William Lane Craig |publisher=Baker Academic |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-8010-2733-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/creationoutofnot0000copa/page/220 }}</ref><ref name="Bolonkin2011">{{cite book|first=Alexander|last=Bolonkin|title=Universe, Human Immortality and Future Human Evaluation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuWQx58ZnPsC&pg=PA3|date=2011|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-12-415801-6|pages=3–|access-date=January 27, 2016|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208114300/https://books.google.com/books?id=TuWQx58ZnPsC&pg=PA3|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The word ''universe'' derives from the [[Old French]] word {{lang|fro|univers}}, which in turn derives from the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|universus}}, meaning 'combined into one'.<ref>''The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary'', volume II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 3518. {{isbn|978-0198611172}}.</ref> The Latin word 'universum' was used by [[Cicero]] and later Latin authors in many of the same senses as the modern [[English language|English]] word is used.<ref name="lewis_short">Lewis, C.T. and Short, S (1879) ''A Latin Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-864201-6}}, pp. 1933, 1977–1978.</ref>

=== Synonyms ===
A term for ''universe'' among the ancient Greek philosophers from [[Pythagoras]] onwards was {{lang|grc|τὸ πᾶν}} ({{transliteration|grc|tò pân}}) 'the all', defined as all matter and all space, and {{lang|grc|τὸ ὅλον}} ({{transliteration|grc|tò hólon}}) 'all things', which did not necessarily include the void.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Liddell |author2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |url=http://lsj.gr/wiki/πᾶς |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106193619/https://lsj.translatum.gr/wiki/%CF%80%E1%BE%B6%CF%82 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |access-date=July 30, 2022 |website=lsj.gr |quote=πᾶς}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Liddell |author2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |url=http://lsj.gr/wiki/ὅλος |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185336/https://lsj.translatum.gr/wiki/%E1%BD%85%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |access-date=July 30, 2022 |website=lsj.gr |quote=ὅλος}}</ref> Another synonym was {{lang|grc|ὁ κόσμος}} ({{transliteration|grc|ho kósmos}}) meaning 'the [[world (philosophy)|world]], the [[cosmos]]'.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Liddell |author2=Scott |title=A Greek–English Lexicon |url=https://lsj.gr/wiki/κόσμος |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106193457/https://lsj.translatum.gr/wiki/%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%82 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |access-date=July 30, 2022 |website=lsj.gr |quote=κόσμος}}</ref> Synonyms are also found in Latin authors ({{lang|la|totum}}, {{lang|la|mundus}}, {{lang|la|natura}})<ref>{{cite book |author=Lewis, C.T. |author2=Short, S |date=1879 |title=A Latin Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/latindictionaryf00lewi |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-864201-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/latindictionaryf00lewi/page/n1188 1175], 1189–1190, 1881–1882}}</ref> and survive in modern languages, e.g., the [[German language|German]] words {{lang|de|Das All}}, {{lang|de|Weltall}}, and {{lang|de|Natur}} for ''universe''. The same synonyms are found in English, such as everything (as in the [[theory of everything]]), the cosmos (as in [[cosmology]]), the world (as in the [[many-worlds interpretation]]), and [[nature]] (as in [[natural law]]s or [[natural philosophy]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary |volume=II |isbn=978-0-19-861117-2 |publisher=Oxford: Oxford University Press |date=1971 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/compacteditionof03robe/page/569 569, 909, 1900, 3821–3822] |url=https://archive.org/details/compacteditionof03robe/page/569 }}</ref>

== Chronology and the Big Bang ==
{{Main|Big Bang|Chronology of the universe}}
{{Nature timeline}}

The prevailing model for the evolution of the universe is the Big Bang theory.<ref>{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Silk|title=Horizons of Cosmology|publisher=Templeton Pressr|date=2009|page=208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Simon|last=Singh|title=Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe|publisher=Harper Perennial|date=2005|page=560|bibcode=2004biba.book.....S}}</ref> The Big Bang model states that the earliest state of the universe was an extremely hot and dense one, and that the universe subsequently expanded and cooled. The model is based on [[general relativity]] and on simplifying assumptions such as the [[homogeneity (physics)#Translation invariance|homogeneity]] and [[isotropy]] of space. A version of the model with a [[cosmological constant]] (Lambda) and [[cold dark matter]], known as the [[Lambda-CDM model]], is the simplest model that provides a reasonably good account of various observations about the universe. The Big Bang model accounts for observations such as the correlation of distance and [[redshift]] of galaxies, the ratio of the number of hydrogen to helium atoms, and the microwave radiation background.

[[File:CMB Timeline300 no WMAP.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|In this schematic diagram, time passes from left to right, with the universe represented by a disk-shaped "slice" at any given time. Time and size are not to scale. To make the early stages visible, the time to the afterglow stage (really the first 0.003%) is stretched and the subsequent expansion (really by 1,100 times to the present) is largely suppressed.]]

The initial hot, dense state is called the [[Planck epoch]], a brief period extending from time zero to one [[Planck time]] unit of approximately 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds. During the Planck epoch, all types of matter and all types of energy were concentrated into a dense state, and [[gravity]]—currently the weakest by far of the [[fundamental interactions|four known forces]]—is believed to have been as strong as the other fundamental forces, and all the forces may have been [[grand unification|unified]]. The physics controlling this very early period (including [[quantum gravity]] in the Planck epoch) is not understood, so we cannot say what, if anything, happened [[Big Bang#Pre–Big Bang cosmology|before time zero]]. Since the Planck epoch, [[expansion of the universe|the universe has been expanding]] to its present scale, with a very short but intense period of [[cosmic inflation]] speculated to have occurred within the first [[Scientific Notation|10<sup>−32</sup>]] seconds.<ref name="Sivaram">{{cite journal |author=Sivaram |first=C. |date=1986 |title=Evolution of the Universe through the Planck epoch |journal=Astrophysics and Space Science |volume=125 |issue=1 |pages=189–199 |bibcode=1986Ap&SS.125..189S |doi=10.1007/BF00643984 |s2cid=123344693}}</ref> This initial period of inflation would explain why space appears to be [[Flatness problem|very flat]], and is [[Horizon problem|uniform on scales much larger]] than light could otherwise travel since the start of the universe.

Within the first fraction of a second of the universe's existence, the four fundamental forces had separated. As the universe continued to cool from its inconceivably hot state, various types of [[subatomic particles]] were able to form in short periods of time known as the [[quark epoch]], the [[hadron epoch]], and the [[lepton epoch]]. Together, these epochs encompassed less than 10 seconds of time following the Big Bang. These [[elementary particle]]s associated stably into ever larger combinations, including stable [[proton]]s and [[neutron]]s, which then formed more complex [[atomic nuclei]] through [[nuclear fusion]].<ref name="Johnson 474–478">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Jennifer A. |date=February 2019 |title=Populating the periodic table: Nucleosynthesis of the elements |journal=Science |language=en |volume=363 |issue=6426 |pages=474–478 |doi=10.1126/science.aau9540 |pmid=30705182 |bibcode=2019Sci...363..474J |s2cid=59565697 |issn=0036-8075|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="durrer"/>

This process, known as [[Big Bang nucleosynthesis]], lasted for about 17 minutes and ended about 20 minutes after the Big Bang, so only the fastest and simplest reactions occurred. About 25% of the [[proton]]s and all the [[neutron]]s in the universe, by mass, were converted to [[helium]], with small amounts of [[deuterium]] (a [[isotope|form]] of [[hydrogen]]) and traces of [[lithium]]. Any other [[chemical element|element]] was only formed in very tiny quantities. The other 75% of the protons remained unaffected, as [[hydrogen]] nuclei.<ref name="Johnson 474–478"/><ref name="durrer">{{cite book|last=Durrer |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Durrer |title=The Cosmic Microwave Background |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-521-84704-9}}</ref>{{rp|27–42}}

After nucleosynthesis ended, the universe entered a period known as the [[photon epoch]]. During this period, the universe was still far too hot for matter to form neutral [[atom]]s, so it contained a hot, dense, foggy [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]] of negatively charged [[electron]]s, neutral [[neutrino]]s and positive nuclei. After about 377,000 years, the universe had cooled enough that electrons and nuclei could form the first stable [[atom]]s. This is known as [[recombination (cosmology)|recombination]] for historical reasons; electrons and nuclei were combining for the first time. Unlike plasma, neutral atoms are [[Opacity (optics)|transparent]] to many [[wavelength]]s of light, so for the first time the universe also became transparent. The photons released ("[[photon decoupling|decoupled]]") when these atoms formed can still be seen today; they form the [[cosmic microwave background]] (CMB).<ref name="durrer"/>{{rp|15–27}}

As the universe expands, the [[energy density]] of [[electromagnetic radiation]] decreases more quickly than does that of [[matter]] because the energy of each photon decreases as it is [[cosmological redshift|cosmologically redshifted]]. At around 47,000 years, the [[energy density]] of matter became larger than that of photons and [[neutrino]]s, and began to dominate the large scale behavior of the universe. This marked the end of the [[radiation-dominated era]] and the start of the [[matter-dominated era]].<ref name="steane">{{cite book|first=Andrew M. |last=Steane |title=Relativity Made Relatively Easy, Volume 2: General Relativity and Cosmology |isbn=978-0-192-89564-6 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021}}</ref>{{rp|390}}

In the earliest stages of the universe, tiny fluctuations within the universe's density led to [[filament (cosmology)|concentrations]] of [[dark matter]] gradually forming. Ordinary matter, attracted to these by [[gravity]], formed large gas clouds and eventually, stars and galaxies, where the dark matter was most dense, and [[Void (astronomy)|voids]] where it was least dense. After around 100–300 million years,<ref name="steane"/>{{rp|333}} the first [[star]]s formed, known as [[Population III]] stars. These were probably very massive, luminous, [[metallicity|non metallic]] and short-lived. They were responsible for the gradual [[reionization]] of the universe between about 200–500 million years and 1 billion years, and also for seeding the universe with elements heavier than helium, through [[stellar nucleosynthesis]].<ref>{{cite news |work=Scientific American |title=The First Stars in the Universe |first1=Richard B. |last1=Larson |first2=Volker |last2=Bromm |name-list-style=amp |date=March 2002 |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-stars-in-the-un/ |access-date=June 9, 2015 |archive-date=June 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611032732/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-stars-in-the-un/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The universe also contains a mysterious energy—possibly a [[scalar field]]—called [[dark energy]], the density of which does not change over time. After about 9.8 billion years, the universe had expanded sufficiently so that the density of matter was less than the density of dark energy, marking the beginning of the present [[dark-energy-dominated era]].<ref>[[Barbara Ryden|Ryden, Barbara]], "Introduction to Cosmology", 2006, eqn. 6.33</ref> In this era, the expansion of the universe is [[accelerating expansion of the universe|accelerating]] due to dark energy.

== Physical properties ==
{{Main|Observable universe|Age of the universe|Metric expansion of space}}
Of the four [[fundamental interaction]]s, [[gravitation]] is the dominant at astronomical length scales. Gravity's effects are cumulative; by contrast, the effects of positive and negative charges tend to cancel one another, making electromagnetism relatively insignificant on astronomical length scales. The remaining two interactions, the [[weak nuclear force|weak]] and [[strong nuclear force]]s, decline very rapidly with distance; their effects are confined mainly to sub-atomic length scales.<ref name="OpenStax-college-physics"/>{{rp|1470}}

The universe appears to have much more [[matter]] than [[antimatter]], an asymmetry possibly related to the [[CP violation]].<ref>{{cite web|date=October 28, 2003 |url=http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ps/bbs/bbs_antimatter.asp |title=Antimatter |publisher=Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council |access-date=August 10, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040307075727/http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ps/bbs/bbs_antimatter.asp |archive-date=March 7, 2004 }}</ref> This imbalance between matter and antimatter is partially responsible for the existence of all matter existing today, since matter and antimatter, if equally produced at the [[Big Bang]], would have completely annihilated each other and left only [[photon]]s as a result of their interaction.<ref name="NAT-20171020">{{cite journal |author=Smorra C. |display-authors=et al |title=A parts-per-billion measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment |date=October 20, 2017 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=550 |issue=7676 |pages=371–374 |doi=10.1038/nature24048 |pmid=29052625 |bibcode=2017Natur.550..371S |s2cid=205260736 |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/2291601/files/nature24048.pdf |doi-access=free |access-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-date=October 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030045315/https://cds.cern.ch/record/2291601/files/nature24048.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The universe also appears to have neither net [[momentum]] nor [[angular momentum]], which absences follow{{clarification needed|date=February 2024}} from accepted physical laws if the universe is finite. These laws are [[Gauss's law]] and the non-divergence of the [[stress–energy–momentum pseudotensor]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Landau|Lifshitz|1975|p=361}}: "It is interesting to note that in a closed space the total electric charge must be zero. Namely, every closed surface in a finite space encloses on each side of itself a finite region of space. Therefore, the flux of the electric field through this surface is equal, on the one hand, to the total charge located in the interior of the surface, and on the other hand to the total charge outside of it, with opposite sign. Consequently, the sum of the charges on the two sides of the surface is zero."</ref>

=== Size and regions ===
{{See also|Observational cosmology}}
[[File:Extended universe logarithmic illustration (English annotated).png|thumb|upright=2.4|[[Terrestrial television|Television signals]] broadcast from Earth will never reach the edges of this image.]]

According to the general theory of relativity, far regions of [[space]] may never interact with ours even in the lifetime of the universe due to the finite [[speed of light]] and the ongoing [[expansion of space]]. For example, radio messages sent from [[Earth]] may never reach some regions of space, even if the universe were to exist forever: space may expand faster than light can traverse it.<ref name="Kaku2008">{{cite book|first=Michio|last=Kaku|title=Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel|url=https://archive.org/details/physicsofimpossi00kaku|url-access=registration|date=2008|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-385-52544-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/physicsofimpossi00kaku/page/202 202]–}}</ref>

The spatial region that can be observed with telescopes is called the [[observable universe]], which depends on the location of the observer.
The [[Comoving distance|proper distance]]—the distance as would be measured at a specific time, including the present—between Earth and the edge of the observable universe is 46 billion light-years<ref name="Extra Dimensions in Space and Time">{{cite book|first1=Itzhak|last1=Bars|first2=John|last2=Terning|title=Extra Dimensions in Space and Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFSMatekilIC&pg=PA27|access-date=October 19, 2018|date=2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-77637-8|pages=27–}}</ref> (14 billion [[parsecs]]), making the [[Observable universe#Size|diameter of the observable universe]] about 93 billion light-years (28 billion parsecs).<ref name="Extra Dimensions in Space and Time" /> The distance the light from the edge of the observable universe has travelled is very close to the [[age of the universe]] times the speed of light, {{convert|13.8|e9ly|e9pc}}, but this does not represent the distance at any given time because the edge of the observable universe and the Earth have since moved further apart.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-light-year |title=What is a light-year? |work=EarthSky |date=February 20, 2013 |first=Christopher |last=Crockett |access-date=February 20, 2015 |archive-date=February 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220203559/http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-light-year |url-status=live }}</ref>

For comparison, the diameter of a typical [[galaxy]] is 30,000 light-years (9,198 [[parsecs]]), and the typical distance between two neighboring galaxies is 3 million [[light-years]] (919.8 kiloparsecs).<ref name="r196">[[#Rindler|Rindler]], p. 196.</ref> As an example, the [[Milky Way]] is roughly 100,000–180,000 light-years in diameter,<ref>{{cite web
|last1=Christian|first1=Eric
|last2=Samar|first2=Safi-Harb |author-link2=Samar Safi-Harb
|title=How large is the Milky Way?
|url=http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980317b.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990202064645/http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980317b.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=February 2, 1999
|access-date=November 28, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/29270-milky-way-size-larger-than-thought.html|title=Size of the Milky Way Upgraded, Solving Galaxy Puzzle|publisher=Space.com|last=Hall|first=Shannon|date=May 4, 2015|access-date=June 9, 2015|archive-date=June 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607104254/http://www.space.com/29270-milky-way-size-larger-than-thought.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the nearest sister galaxy to the Milky Way, the [[Andromeda Galaxy]], is located roughly 2.5 million light-years away.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ribas |first1=I. |last2=Jordi |first2=C. |last3=Vilardell |first3=F. |last4=Fitzpatrick |first4=E. L. |last5=Hilditch |first5=R. W. |last6=Guinan |first6=F. Edward |date=2005 |title=First Determination of the Distance and Fundamental Properties of an Eclipsing Binary in the Andromeda Galaxy |journal=Astrophysical Journal |volume=635 |issue=1 |pages=L37–L40 |arxiv=astro-ph/0511045 |bibcode=2005ApJ...635L..37R |doi=10.1086/499161 |s2cid=119522151}}<br />{{cite journal |author=McConnachie, A.W. |author2=Irwin, M.J. |author3=Ferguson, A.M.N. |author3-link=Annette Ferguson |author4=Ibata, R.A. |author5=Lewis, G.F. |author6=Tanvir, N. |author6-link=Nial Tanvir |date=2005 |title=Distances and metallicities for 17 Local Group galaxies |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=356 |issue=4 |pages=979–997 |arxiv=astro-ph/0410489 |bibcode=2005MNRAS.356..979M |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08514.x}}</ref>

Because humans cannot observe space beyond the edge of the observable universe, it is unknown whether the size of the universe in its totality is finite or infinite.<ref name="Brian Greene 2011" /><ref>{{cite web|title=How can space travel faster than the speed of light?|first=Vanessa |last=Janek |website=Universe Today|date=February 20, 2015|url=http://www.universetoday.com/119068/how-can-space-travel-faster-than-the-speed-of-light/|access-date=June 6, 2015|archive-date=December 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216061309/https://www.universetoday.com/119068/how-can-space-travel-faster-than-the-speed-of-light/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Is faster-than-light travel or communication possible? Section: Expansion of the Universe |url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SpeedOfLight/FTL.html#13 |work=Philip Gibbs |date=1997 |access-date=June 6, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310205556/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SpeedOfLight/FTL.html#13 |archive-date=March 10, 2010 }}</ref> Estimates suggest that the whole universe, if finite, must be more than 250 times larger than a [[Hubble volume|Hubble sphere]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vardanyan |first1=M. |last2=Trotta |first2=R. |last3=Silk |first3=J. |date=January 28, 2011 |title=Applications of Bayesian model averaging to the curvature and size of the Universe |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters |volume=413 |issue=1 |pages=L91–L95 |arxiv=1101.5476 |bibcode=2011MNRAS.413L..91V |doi=10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01040.x |s2cid=2616287}}</ref> Some disputed<ref>{{cite web |url=https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/06/urban_myths_in_contemporary_co.html |title=Urban Myths in Contemporary Cosmology |last=Schreiber |first=Urs |date=June 6, 2008 |website=The n-Category Café |publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]] |access-date=June 1, 2020 |archive-date=July 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701041542/https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/06/urban_myths_in_contemporary_co.html |url-status=live }}</ref> estimates for the total size of the universe, if finite, reach as high as <math>10^{10^{10^{122}}}</math> megaparsecs, as implied by a suggested resolution of the No-Boundary Proposal.<ref>{{cite journal|arxiv=hep-th/0610199| author=[[Don Page (physicist)|Don N. Page]]|year=2007|title=Susskind's Challenge to the Hartle-Hawking No-Boundary Proposal and Possible Resolutions| journal=Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics| volume=2007| issue=1| page=004| doi=10.1088/1475-7516/2007/01/004| bibcode=2007JCAP...01..004P| s2cid=17403084}}</ref>{{efn|name=bignumber|Although listed in [[parsec|megaparsecs]] by the cited source, this number is so vast that its digits would remain virtually unchanged for all intents and purposes regardless of which conventional units it is listed in, whether it to be [[nanometres]] or [[parsec|gigaparsecs]], as the differences would disappear into the error.}}

=== Age and expansion ===
{{Main|Age of the universe|Expansion of the universe}}
Assuming that the [[Lambda-CDM model]] is correct, the measurements of the parameters using a variety of techniques by numerous experiments yield a best value of the age of the universe at 13.799 [[Measurement uncertainty|±]] 0.021 billion years, as of 2015.<ref name="Planck 2015">{{cite journal|author=Planck Collaboration|year=2016|title=Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=594|page=A13, Table 4|arxiv=1502.01589|bibcode=2016A&A...594A..13P|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201525830|s2cid=119262962}}</ref>

[[File:Galactic Cntr full cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=2|Astronomers have discovered stars in the [[Milky Way]] galaxy that are almost 13.6 billion years old.]]
Over time, the universe and its contents have evolved. For example, the relative population of [[quasar]]s and galaxies has changed<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/galaxy-collisions-give-birth-quasars |work=Science News |title=Galaxy Collisions Give Birth to Quasars |date=March 25, 2010 |first=Phil |last=Berardelli |access-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-date=March 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325005200/https://www.science.org/content/article/galaxy-collisions-give-birth-quasars |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[expansion of the universe|universe has expanded]]. This expansion is inferred from the observation that the light from distant galaxies has been [[redshift]]ed, which implies that the galaxies are receding from us. Analyses of [[Type Ia supernova]]e indicate that the [[accelerating expansion of the Universe|expansion is accelerating]].<ref name="riess">{{cite journal|author=Riess, Adam G.|year=1998|title=Observational evidence from supernovae for an accelerating universe and a cosmological constant|journal=Astronomical Journal|volume=116|issue=3|pages=1009–1038|arxiv=astro-ph/9805201 |doi=10.1086/300499|bibcode=1998AJ....116.1009R|last2=Filippenko|last3=Challis|last4=Clocchiatti|last5=Diercks|last6=Garnavich|last7=Gilliland|last8=Hogan|last9=Jha|last10=Kirshner|last11=Leibundgut|last12=Phillips|last13=Reiss|last14=Schmidt|last15=Schommer|last16=Smith|last17=Spyromilio|last18=Stubbs|last19=Suntzeff|last20=Tonry|s2cid=15640044|author-link=Adam Riess}}</ref><ref name="perlmutter">{{cite journal|author=Perlmutter, S. |journal=Astrophysical Journal|volume=517|issue=2|pages=565–586|year=1999|title=Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 high redshift supernovae|arxiv=astro-ph/9812133 |doi=10.1086/307221|bibcode=1999ApJ...517..565P|last2=Aldering|last3=Goldhaber|last4=Knop|last5=Nugent|last6=Castro|last7=Deustua|last8=Fabbro|last9=Goobar|last10=Groom|last11=Hook|last12=Kim|last13=Kim|last14=Lee|last15=Nunes|last16=Pain|last17=Pennypacker|last18=Quimby|last19=Lidman|last20=Ellis|last21=Irwin|last22=McMahon|last23=Ruiz-Lapuente|last24=Walton|last25=Schaefer|last26=Boyle|last27=Filippenko|last28=Matheson|last29=Fruchter|last30=Panagia|s2cid=118910636|display-authors=29|author-link=Saul Perlmutter}}</ref>

The more matter there is in the universe, the stronger the mutual [[gravitational]] pull of the matter. If the universe were ''too'' dense then it would re-collapse into a [[gravitational singularity]]. However, if the universe contained too ''little'' matter then the self-gravity would be too weak for astronomical structures, like galaxies or planets, to form. Since the Big Bang, the universe has expanded [[monotonic]]ally. [[Anthropic principle#Anthropic 'coincidences'|Perhaps unsurprisingly]], our universe has [[Critical Mass Density of the Universe|just the right mass–energy density]], equivalent to about 5 protons per cubic metre, which has allowed it to expand for the last 13.8 billion years, giving time to form the universe as observed today.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Raymond A. |last1=Serway |first2=Clement J. |last2=Moses |first3=Curt A. |last3=Moyer |title=Modern Physics |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-111-79437-8 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://openstax.org/books/astronomy-2e/pages/29-7-the-anthropic-principle |title=Astronomy 2e |publisher=OpenStax |isbn=978-1-951-69350-3 |first1=Andrew |last1=Fraknoi |display-authors=etal |year=2022 |page=1017}}</ref>

There are dynamical forces acting on the particles in the universe which affect the expansion rate. Before 1998, it was expected that the expansion rate would be decreasing as time went on due to the influence of gravitational interactions in the universe; and thus there is an additional observable quantity in the universe called the [[deceleration parameter]], which most cosmologists expected to be positive and related to the matter density of the universe. In 1998, the deceleration parameter was measured by two different groups to be negative, approximately −0.55, which technically implies that the second derivative of the cosmic [[scale factor cosmology|scale factor]] <math> \ddot{a}</math> has been positive in the last 5–6 billion years.<ref name="nobel_2011">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 |access-date=April 16, 2015 |archive-date=April 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417023358/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|title=A 'Cosmic Jerk' That Reversed the Universe|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/11/us/a-cosmic-jerk-that-reversed-the-universe.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 11, 2003|access-date=February 20, 2017|archive-date=July 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701114952/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/11/us/a-cosmic-jerk-that-reversed-the-universe.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Spacetime ===
{{Main|Spacetime|World line}}
{{See also|Lorentz transformation}}
Modern physics regards [[event (relativity)|events]] as being organized into [[spacetime]].<ref>{{Cite book
 |author=Schutz, Bernard
 |title=A First Course in General Relativity
 |publisher=Cambridge University Press
 |edition=2nd
 |date= 2009
 |isbn=978-0-521-88705-2
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/firstcourseingen00bern_0/page/142 142, 171]
 |author-link=Bernard Schutz
 |url=https://archive.org/details/firstcourseingen00bern_0/page/142
 }}</ref> This idea originated with the [[special theory of relativity]], which predicts that if one observer sees two events happening in different places at the same time, a second observer who is moving relative to the first will see those events happening at different times.<ref name="Mermin2005">{{cite book|first=N. David |last=Mermin |author-link=N. David Mermin |title=It's About Time: Understanding Einstein's Relativity |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2021 |orig-year=2005 |edition=Princeton Science Library paperback |isbn=978-0-691-12201-4 |oclc=1193067111}}</ref>{{rp|45–52}} The two observers will disagree on the time <math>T</math> between the events, and they will disagree about the distance <math>D</math> separating the events, but they will agree on the [[speed of light]] <math>c</math>, and they will measure the same value for the combination <math>c^2T^2 - D^2</math>.<ref name="Mermin2005"/>{{rp|80}} The square root of the [[absolute value]] of this quantity is called the ''interval'' between the two events. The interval expresses how widely separated events are, not just in space or in time, but in the combined setting of spacetime.<ref name="Mermin2005"/>{{rp|84,136}}<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s10714-006-0254-9 |bibcode=2006GReGr..38..643B |arxiv=gr-qc/0407022 |title=Spacetime and Euclidean geometry |journal=General Relativity and Gravitation |volume=38 |issue=4 |year=2006 |pages=643–651 |last1=Brill |first1=Dieter |last2=Jacobsen |first2=Ted |citeseerx=10.1.1.338.7953 |s2cid=119067072 }}</ref>

The special theory of relativity cannot account for [[gravity]]. Its successor, the [[general theory of relativity]], explains gravity by recognizing that spacetime is not fixed but instead dynamical. In general relativity, gravitational force is reimagined as curvature of [[spacetime]]. A curved path like an orbit is not the result of a force deflecting a body from an ideal straight-line path, but rather the body's attempt to fall freely through a background that is itself curved by the presence of other masses. A remark by [[John Archibald Wheeler]] that has become proverbial among physicists summarizes the theory: "Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to curve",<ref name="Wheeler">{{Cite book|last=Wheeler|first=John Archibald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGFkK2tTXPsC&pg=PA235|title=Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics|date=2010|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-07948-7|language=en|author-link=John Archibald Wheeler}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kersting|first=Magdalena|date=May 2019|title=Free fall in curved spacetime – how to visualise gravity in general relativity|journal=[[Physics Education]] |volume=54|issue=3|pages=035008|doi=10.1088/1361-6552/ab08f5|bibcode=2019PhyEd..54c5008K |s2cid=127471222 |issn=0031-9120|doi-access=free|hdl=10852/74677|hdl-access=free}}</ref> and therefore there is no point in considering one without the other.<ref name="Hawking" /> The [[Newton's law of universal gravitation|Newtonian theory of gravity]] is a good approximation to the predictions of general relativity when gravitational effects are weak and objects are moving slowly compared to the speed of light.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Herbert |title=Classical Mechanics |title-link=Classical Mechanics (Goldstein) |last2=Poole |first2=Charles P. |last3=Safko |first3=John L. |date=2002 |publisher=Addison Wesley |isbn=0-201-31611-0 |edition=3rd |location=San Francisco |oclc=47056311 |author-link=Herbert Goldstein |author2-link=Charles P. Poole}}</ref>{{Rp|page=327}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodstein |first=Judith R. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1020305599 |title=Einstein's Italian Mathematicians: Ricci, Levi-Civita, and the Birth of General Relativity |date=2018 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |isbn=978-1-4704-2846-4 |location=Providence, Rhode Island |pages=143 |oclc=1020305599 |author-link=Judith R. Goodstein}}</ref>

The relation between matter distribution and spacetime curvature is given by the [[Einstein field equations]], which require [[tensor calculus]] to express.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Choquet-Bruhat |first=Yvonne |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/317496332 |title=General Relativity and the Einstein Equations |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-155226-7 |location=Oxford |oclc=317496332 |author-link=Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat}}</ref>{{Rp|page=43}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1164503847 |title=The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred |date=2021 |publisher=Bold Type Books |isbn=978-1-5417-2470-9 |location=New York, New York |language=en-us |oclc=1164503847 |author-link=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein}}</ref> The solutions to these equations include not only the spacetime of special relativity, [[Minkowski spacetime]], but also [[Schwarzschild metric|Schwarzschild spacetimes]], which describe [[black hole]]s; [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric|FLRW spacetime]], which describes an expanding universe; and more.

The universe appears to be a smooth spacetime continuum consisting of three [[space|spatial]] [[dimension]]s and one temporal ([[time]]) dimension. Therefore, an event in the spacetime of the physical universe can therefore be identified by a set of four coordinates: {{nowrap begin}}(''x'', ''y'', ''z'', ''t''){{nowrap end}}. On average, [[3-space|space]] is observed to be very nearly [[Shape of the universe|flat]] (with a [[curvature]] close to zero), meaning that [[Euclidean geometry]] is empirically true with high accuracy throughout most of the universe.<ref name="Shape">{{Cite web |title=WMAP Mission – Age of the Universe |url=https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_content.html |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=map.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> Spacetime also appears to have a [[simply connected space|simply connected]] [[topology]], in analogy with a sphere, at least on the length scale of the observable universe. However, present observations cannot exclude the possibilities that the universe has more dimensions (which is postulated by theories such as the [[string theory]]) and that its spacetime may have a multiply connected global topology, in analogy with the cylindrical or [[toroid]]al topologies of two-dimensional [[space]]s.<ref name="Nat03">{{cite journal
 |last1        = Luminet
 |first1       = Jean-Pierre
 |author-link  = Jean-Pierre Luminet
 |last2        = Weeks
 |first2       = Jeffrey R.
 |last3        = Riazuelo
 |first3       = Alain
 |last4        = Lehoucq
 |first4       = Roland
 |last5        = Uzan
 |first5       = Jean-Philippe
 |title        = Dodecahedral space topology as an explanation for weak wide-angle temperature correlations in the cosmic microwave background
 |journal      = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]]
 |volume       = 425
 |issue        = 6958
 |pages        = 593–595
 |date         = October 9, 2003
 |pmid         = 14534579
 |arxiv        = astro-ph/0310253
 |doi          = 10.1038/nature01944
 |bibcode      = 2003Natur.425..593L
 |s2cid        = 4380713
 |url          = https://cds.cern.ch/record/647738
 |type         = Submitted manuscript
 |access-date  = August 21, 2018
 |archive-date = May 17, 2021
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210517180259/https://cds.cern.ch/record/647738
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref><ref name="_spacetime_topology">{{cite conference
|first1=Jean-Pierre
|last1=Luminet
|first2=Boudewijn F.
 |last2=Roukema
 |title=Topology of the Universe: Theory and Observations
|book-title=Proceedings of Cosmology School held at Cargese, Corsica, August 1998
|date=1999
|arxiv=astro-ph/9901364
|bibcode=1999ASIC..541..117L }}</ref>

=== Shape ===
{{Main|Shape of the universe}}
[[File:End of universe.jpg|thumb|The three possible options for the shape of the universe]]

General relativity describes how spacetime is curved and bent by mass and energy (gravity). The [[topology]] or [[geometry]] of the universe includes both [[Shape of the universe#Local geometry (spatial curvature)|local geometry]] in the [[observable universe]] and [[Shape of the universe#Global geometry|global geometry]]. Cosmologists often work with a given [[space-like]] slice of spacetime called the [[Comoving distance|comoving coordinates]]. The section of spacetime which can be observed is the backward [[light cone]], which delimits the [[cosmological horizon]]. The cosmological horizon, also called the particle horizon or the light horizon, is the maximum distance from which [[Elementary particle|particles]] can have traveled to the [[observation|observer]] in the [[age of the universe]]. This horizon represents the boundary between the observable and the unobservable regions of the universe.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |author=Harrison |first=Edward Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNxeHD2cbLYC&pg=PA447 |title=Cosmology: the science of the universe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-66148-5 |pages=447– |access-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826075123/https://books.google.com/books?id=kNxeHD2cbLYC&pg=PA447 |archive-date=August 26, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Liddle |first1=Andrew R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XmWauPZSovMC&pg=PA24 |title=Cosmological inflation and large-scale structure |last2=Lyth |first2=David Hilary |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57598-0 |pages=24– |access-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231164745/http://books.google.com/books?id=XmWauPZSovMC&pg=PA24 |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> The existence, properties, and significance of a cosmological horizon depend on the particular [[cosmological model]].

An important parameter determining the future evolution of the universe theory is the [[density parameter]], Omega (Ω), defined as the average matter density of the universe divided by a critical value of that density. This selects one of three possible [[Shape of the universe|geometries]] depending on whether Ω is equal to, less than, or greater than 1. These are called, respectively, the flat, open and closed universes.<ref name=FateOfTheUniverse>{{cite web|title=What is the Ultimate Fate of the Universe?|url=http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_fate.html|publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |access-date=August 23, 2015|archive-date=December 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222195155/https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_fate.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Observations, including the [[Cosmic Background Explorer]] (COBE), [[Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe]] (WMAP), and [[Planck (spacecraft)|Planck]] maps of the CMB, suggest that the universe is infinite in extent with a finite age, as described by the [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric|Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker]] (FLRW) models.<ref name="nasa_popular_uni_curv">{{Cite web |title=WMAP – Shape of the Universe |url=https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=map.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref name="Nat03" /><ref name="RBSG08">{{cite journal|last1=Roukema|first1=Boudewijn|first2=Zbigniew |last2=Buliński |first3=Agnieszka |last3=Szaniewska |first4=Nicolas E. |last4=Gaudin |title=A test of the Poincare dodecahedral space topology hypothesis with the WMAP CMB data|journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics|volume=482|issue=3 |pages=747–753|date=2008|arxiv=0801.0006|doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20078777|bibcode=2008A&A...482..747L|s2cid=1616362}}</ref><ref name="Aurich0403597">{{cite journal|last=Aurich|first=Ralf|author2=Lustig, S. |author3=Steiner, F. |author4=Then, H. |title=Hyperbolic Universes with a Horned Topology and the CMB Anisotropy|journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity|volume=21 |issue=21 |pages=4901–4926|date=2004 |doi=10.1088/0264-9381/21/21/010 |arxiv=astro-ph/0403597|bibcode=2004CQGra..21.4901A|s2cid=17619026}}</ref> These FLRW models thus support inflationary models and the standard model of cosmology, describing a [[Minkowski space|flat]], homogeneous universe presently dominated by [[dark matter]] and [[dark energy]].<ref name="planck_cosmological_parameters">{{cite journal |arxiv=1303.5076 |title=Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters |author=Planck Collaboration |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics |date=2014 |bibcode=2014A&A...571A..16P |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201321591 |volume=571 |page=A16|s2cid=118349591 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|title=Planck reveals 'almost perfect' universe
|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/mar/21/planck-reveals-almost-perfect-universe
|work=Michael Banks
|publisher=Physics World
|date=March 21, 2013
|access-date=March 21, 2013
|archive-date=March 24, 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324022238/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/mar/21/planck-reveals-almost-perfect-universe
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

=== Support of life ===
{{Main|Fine-tuned universe}}
The fine-tuned universe hypothesis is the proposition that the conditions that allow the existence of observable [[life]] in the universe can only occur when certain universal [[physical constant|fundamental physical constants]] lie within a very narrow range of values. According to this hypothesis, if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different, the universe would have been unlikely to be conducive to the establishment and development of [[matter]], astronomical structures, elemental diversity, or life as it is understood. Whether this is true, and whether that question is even logically meaningful to ask, are subjects of much debate.<ref name=stanford_encylopedia>{{cite web
|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/
|title=Fine-Tuning
|website=[[The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]
|publisher=Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University
|access-date=2022-02-15
|date=2021-11-12
|first=Simon |last=Friederich
}}</ref> The proposition is discussed among [[philosophy|philosophers]], [[scientist]]s, [[theology|theologians]], and proponents of [[creationism]].<ref name=toa>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI301.html |title=CI301: The Anthropic Principle |access-date=October 31, 2007 |editor-first=Mark |editor-last=Isaak |date=2005 |work=Index to Creationist Claims |publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]] |archive-date=July 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701145811/http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI301.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Composition ==
{{See also|Galaxy formation and evolution|Galaxy cluster|Nebula}}
The universe is composed almost completely of dark energy, dark matter, and [[matter|ordinary matter]]. Other contents are [[electromagnetic radiation]] (estimated to constitute from 0.005% to close to 0.01% of the total [[mass–energy equivalence|mass–energy]] of the universe) and [[antimatter]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=electromagnetic radiation {{!}} physics|url=http://www.britannica.com/science/electromagnetic-radiation|access-date=July 26, 2015|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|last=Fritzsche|first=Hellmut|page=1|archive-date=August 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150831050929/http://www.britannica.com/science/electromagnetic-radiation|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/Pdf_downloads/8.pdf|title=Physics 7:Relativity, SpaceTime and Cosmology|access-date=July 26, 2015|website=Physics 7:Relativity, SpaceTime and Cosmology|publisher=University of California Riverside|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905155421/http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/Pdf_downloads/8.pdf|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Physics – for the 21st Century|url=http://www.learner.org/courses/physics/unit/text.html?unit=11&secNum=6|website=learner.org|access-date=July 27, 2015|publisher=Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Annenberg Learner|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907212145/http://www.learner.org/courses/physics/unit/text.html?unit=11&secNum=6|archive-date=September 7, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The proportions of all types of matter and energy have changed over the history of the universe.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dark matter – A history shapes by dark force|publisher=National Geographic|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/hidden-cosmos/timeline-graphic|work=Timothy Ferris|year=2015|access-date=December 29, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095337/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/hidden-cosmos/timeline-graphic|url-status=dead}}</ref> The total amount of electromagnetic radiation generated within the universe has decreased by 1/2 in the past 2 billion years.<ref>{{Cite web|title=It's Official: The Universe Is Dying Slowly|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/it-s-official-the-universe-is-dying-slowly/|access-date=August 11, 2015|first=Nola Taylor|last=Redd, SPACE.com|website=[[Scientific American]]|archive-date=August 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150812010821/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/it-s-official-the-universe-is-dying-slowly/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=RIP Universe – Your Time Is Coming… Slowly {{!}} Video |url=http://www.space.com/30194-rip-universe-your-time-is-coming-slowly-video.html |publisher=Space.com |first=Will |last=Parr |display-authors=et al |access-date=August 20, 2015 |archive-date=August 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150813221122/http://www.space.com/30194-rip-universe-your-time-is-coming-slowly-video.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Today, ordinary matter, which includes atoms, stars, galaxies, and [[life]], accounts for only 4.9% of the contents of the universe.<ref name="planck2013parameters" /> The present overall [[density]] of this type of matter is very low, roughly 4.5 × 10<sup>−31</sup> grams per cubic centimetre, corresponding to a density of the order of only one proton for every four cubic metres of volume.<ref name="wmap_universe_made_of" /> The nature of both dark energy and dark matter is unknown. Dark matter, a mysterious form of matter that has not yet been identified, accounts for 26.8% of the cosmic contents. Dark energy, which is the energy of empty space and is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate, accounts for the remaining 68.3% of the contents.<ref name="planck2013parameters">{{cite web|title=First Planck results: the universe is still weird and interesting|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2013/03/first-planck-results-the-universe-is-still-weird-and-interesting/|work=Matthew Francis|publisher=Ars technica|date=March 21, 2013|access-date=August 21, 2015|archive-date=May 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502143413/https://arstechnica.com/science/2013/03/first-planck-results-the-universe-is-still-weird-and-interesting/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="DarkMatter" /><ref name="peebles">{{cite journal |author=Peebles |first1=P. J. E. |last2=Ratra |first2=Bharat |name-list-style=amp |date=2003 |title=The cosmological constant and dark energy |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=559–606 |arxiv=astro-ph/0207347 |bibcode=2003RvMP...75..559P |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.559 |s2cid=118961123}}</ref>

[[File:Formation of galactic clusters and filaments.jpg|thumb|upright=2.4|The formation of clusters and large-scale [[Galaxy filament|filaments]] in the [[cold dark matter]] model with [[dark energy]]. The frames show the evolution of structures in a 43 million parsecs (or 140 million light-years) box from redshift of 30 to the present epoch (upper left z=30 to lower right z=0).]]
[[File:Nearsc.gif|thumb|upright=2.4|A map of the superclusters and [[void (astronomy)|voids]] nearest to Earth]]
Matter, dark matter, and dark energy are distributed homogeneously throughout the universe over length scales longer than 300 million light-years (ly) or so.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mandolesi |first1=N. |last2=Calzolari |first2=P. |last3=Cortiglioni |first3=S. |last4=Delpino |first4=F. |last5=Sironi |first5=G. |last6=Inzani |first6=P. |last7=Deamici |first7=G. |last8=Solheim |first8=J.-E. |last9=Berger |first9=L. |doi=10.1038/319751a0 |last10=Partridge |first10=R.B. |last11=Martenis |first11=P.L. |last12=Sangree |first12=C.H. |last13=Harvey |first13=R.C. |title=Large-scale homogeneity of the universe measured by the microwave background |journal=Nature |volume=319 |issue=6056 |pages=751–753 |year=1986 |bibcode=1986Natur.319..751M |s2cid=4349689 }}</ref> However, over shorter length-scales, matter tends to clump hierarchically; many [[atom]]s are condensed into [[star]]s, most stars into galaxies, most galaxies into [[galaxy groups and clusters|clusters, superclusters]] and, finally, large-scale [[Galaxy filament|galactic filaments]]. The observable universe contains as many as an estimated 2 trillion galaxies<ref name="BBC-20231129">{{cite news |last=Gunn |first=Alistair |title=How many galaxies are there in the universe? - Do astronomers know how many galaxies exist? How many can we see in the observable Universe? |url=https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/how-many-galaxies-in-universe |date=29 November 2023  |work=[[BBC Sky at Night]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20231203021645/https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/how-many-galaxies-in-universe |archivedate=3 December 2023 |accessdate=2 December 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=New Horizons spacecraft answers the question: How dark is space? |website=phys.org |url=https://phys.org/news/2021-01-horizons-spacecraft-dark-space.html |access-date=January 15, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115110710/https://phys.org/news/2021-01-horizons-spacecraft-dark-space.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Howell |first1=Elizabeth |title=How Many Galaxies Are There? |url=https://www.space.com/25303-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe.html |website=Space.com |access-date=March 5, 2021 |date=March 20, 2018 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228013433/https://www.space.com/25303-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and, overall, as many as an estimated 10<sup>24</sup> stars<ref name="ESA-2019">{{cite web |author=Staff |title=How Many Stars Are There In The Universe? |url=https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe |date=2019 |work=[[European Space Agency]] |access-date=September 21, 2019 |archive-date=September 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923134902/http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter=The Structure of the Universe|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-8730-2_10|title=The Fundamentals of Modern Astrophysics|pages=279–294|year=2015|last1=Marov|first1=Mikhail Ya.|isbn=978-1-4614-8729-6}}</ref> &ndash; more stars (and earth-like planets) than all the [[Sand|grains of beach sand]] on planet [[Earth]];<ref name="SU-20020201">{{cite web |last=Mackie |first=Glen |title=To see the Universe in a Grain of Taranaki Sand |url=http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html |date=February 1, 2002 |work=[[Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing]] |access-date=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/60r7Xm9UZ?url=http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CNET-20150319">{{cite news |last=Mack |first=Eric |title=There may be more Earth-like planets than grains of sand on all our beaches - New research contends that the Milky Way alone is flush with billions of potentially habitable planets -- and that's just one sliver of the universe. |url=https://www.cnet.com/science/the-milky-way-is-flush-with-habitable-planets-study-says/ |date=19 March 2015 |work=[[CNET]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20231201144523/https://www.cnet.com/science/the-milky-way-is-flush-with-habitable-planets-study-says/ |archivedate=1 December 2023 |accessdate=1 December 2023 }}</ref><ref name="MNRAS-20150313">{{cite journal |last1=T. Bovaird |first1=T. |last2=Lineweaver |first2=C.H. |last3=Jacobsen |first3=S.K. |title=Using the inclinations of Kepler systems to prioritize new Titius–Bode-based exoplanet predictions |url=https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/448/4/3608/970734 |date=13 March 2015 |journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] |volume=448 |issue=4 |pages=3608–3627 |doi=10.1093/mnras/stv221 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20231201151205/https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/448/4/3608/970734 |archivedate=1 December 2023 |accessdate=1 December 2023 |doi-access=free |arxiv=1412.6230 }}</ref> but less than the total number of atoms estimated in the universe as 10<sup>82</sup>;<ref name="LS-20210711">{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Harry |title=How many atoms are in the observable universe? |url=https://www.livescience.com/how-many-atoms-in-universe.html |date=11 July 2021 |work=[[Live Science]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20231201143640/https://www.livescience.com/how-many-atoms-in-universe.html |archivedate=1 December 2023 |accessdate=1 December 2023 }}</ref> and the estimated total number of stars in an [[Inflation (cosmology)|inflationary universe]] (observed and unobserved), as 10<sup>100</sup>.<ref name="SR-20200203">{{cite journal |last=Totani |first=Tomonori |title=Emergence of life in an inflationary universe |date=3 February 2020 |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |volume=10 |number=1671 |page=1671 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-58060-0 |doi-access=free |pmid=32015390 |pmc=6997386 |arxiv=1911.08092 |bibcode=2020NatSR..10.1671T }}</ref> Typical galaxies range from [[dwarf galaxy|dwarfs]] with as few as ten million<ref>{{cite journal|date=May 3, 2000|url=http://www.eso.org/public/usa/news/eso0018/|title=Unveiling the Secret of a Virgo Dwarf Galaxy|journal=European Southern Observatory Press Release|pages=12|publisher=ESO|access-date=January 3, 2007|bibcode=2000eso..pres...12.|archive-date=July 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713223811/http://www.eso.org/public/usa/news/eso0018/|url-status=live}}</ref> (10<sup>7</sup>) stars up to giants with one [[10^12|trillion]]<ref name="M101">{{cite web|date=February 28, 2006|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hst_spiral_m10.html|title=Hubble's Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View|publisher=NASA|access-date=January 3, 2007|archive-date=May 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527063744/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hst_spiral_m10.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (10<sup>12</sup>) stars. Between the larger structures are [[void (astronomy)|voids]], which are typically 10–150 Mpc (33 million–490 million ly) in diameter. The [[Milky Way]] is in the [[Local Group]] of galaxies, which in turn is in the [[Laniakea Supercluster]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/news/earth-s-new-address-solar-system-milky-way-laniakea-1.15819|title=Earth's new address: 'Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea'|journal=Nature|date=September 3, 2014|access-date=August 21, 2015|doi=10.1038/nature.2014.15819|last1=Gibney|first1=Elizabeth|author-link=Elizabeth Gibney|s2cid=124323774|archive-date=January 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107010904/http://www.nature.com/news/earth-s-new-address-solar-system-milky-way-laniakea-1.15819?error=cookies_not_supported&code=81eb43f5-e92f-436d-9725-3b681615454d|url-status=live}}</ref> This supercluster spans over 500 million light-years, while the Local Group spans over 10 million light-years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.universetoday.com/30286/local-group/|title=Local Group|publisher=Universe Today|work=Fraser Cain|date=May 4, 2009|access-date=August 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621093042/https://www.universetoday.com/30286/local-group/|archive-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> The universe also has vast regions of relative emptiness; the largest known void measures 1.8 billion ly (550 Mpc) across.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/20/astronomers-discover-largest-known-structure-in-the-universe-is-a-big-hole|title=Astronomers discover largest known structure in the universe is ... a big hole|date=April 20, 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|last1=Devlin|first1=Hannah|author-link=Hannah Devlin|last2=Correspondent|first2=Science|access-date=December 18, 2016|archive-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207131614/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/20/astronomers-discover-largest-known-structure-in-the-universe-is-a-big-hole|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Universe content bar chart.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Comparison of the contents of the universe today to 380,000 years after the Big Bang as measured with 5 year WMAP data (from 2008).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Content of the Universe – WMAP 9yr Pie Chart|url=http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/080998/|website=wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=July 26, 2015|archive-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184934/http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/080998/|url-status=live}}</ref> Due to rounding errors, the sum of these numbers is not 100%. This reflects the 2008 limits of WMAP's ability to define dark matter and dark energy.]]

The observable universe is [[isotropic]] on scales significantly larger than superclusters, meaning that the statistical properties of the universe are the same in all directions as observed from Earth. The universe is bathed in highly isotropic [[microwave]] [[electromagnetic radiation|radiation]] that corresponds to a [[thermal equilibrium]] [[blackbody spectrum]] of roughly 2.72548 [[kelvin]]s.<ref name="Fixsen" /> The hypothesis that the large-scale universe is homogeneous and isotropic is known as the [[cosmological principle]].<ref>[[#Rindler|Rindler]], p. 202.</ref> A universe that is both homogeneous and isotropic looks the same from all vantage points<ref name=Liddle>{{cite book |title=An Introduction to Modern Cosmology |edition=2nd  |first=Andrew |last=Liddle |isbn=978-0-470-84835-7 |year=2003 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}. p. 2.</ref> and has no center.<ref name="livio">{{cite book|title=The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos|last=Livio|first=Mario|author-link=Mario Livio|date=2001|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|page=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EidS6_VVNYC&q=cosmological+principle+%22center+of+the+universe%22&pg=PA53|access-date=March 31, 2012|isbn=978-0-471-43714-7|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513224845/https://books.google.com/books?id=4EidS6_VVNYC&q=cosmological+principle+%22center+of+the+universe%22&pg=PA53|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Dark energy ===
{{Main|Dark energy}}
An explanation for why the expansion of the universe is accelerating remains elusive. It is often attributed to "dark energy", an unknown form of energy that is hypothesized to permeate space.<ref name="peebles(a)">{{cite journal|author1=Peebles, P.J.E. |author2=Ratra, Bharat |name-list-style=amp |title=The cosmological constant and dark energy|year=2003|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics|arxiv=astro-ph/0207347|volume=75|issue=2|pages=559–606|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.559|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..559P|s2cid=118961123 }}</ref> On a [[mass–energy equivalence]] basis, the density of dark energy (~ 7 × 10<sup>−30</sup> g/cm<sup>3</sup>) is much less than the density of ordinary matter or dark matter within galaxies. However, in the present dark-energy era, it dominates the mass–energy of the universe because it is uniform across space.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Why the cosmological constant is small and positive |first1=Paul J. |last1=Steinhardt |first2=Neil|last2=Turok|journal=Science|volume=312|issue=5777|pages=1180–1183 |doi=10.1126/science.1126231 |arxiv=astro-ph/0605173 |year=2006 |bibcode=2006Sci...312.1180S |pmid=16675662|s2cid=14178620 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/dareng.html |title=Dark Energy |work=Hyperphysics |access-date=January 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527105518/http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/astro/dareng.html |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Two proposed forms for dark energy are the [[cosmological constant]], a ''constant'' energy density filling space homogeneously,<ref name="carroll">{{cite journal|author=Carroll, Sean |year=2001 |url=http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2001-1/index.html |title=The cosmological constant |journal=Living Reviews in Relativity |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=1 |access-date=September 28, 2006 |doi=10.12942/lrr-2001-1 |pmid=28179856 |pmc=5256042 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013042057/http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2001-1/index.html |archive-date=October 13, 2006 |arxiv=astro-ph/0004075 |bibcode=2001LRR.....4....1C |author-link=Sean M. Carroll }}</ref> and [[scalar field]]s such as [[quintessence (physics)|quintessence]] or [[moduli (physics)|moduli]], ''dynamic'' quantities whose energy density can vary in time and space while still permeating then enough to cause the observed rate of expansion. Contributions from scalar fields that are constant in space are usually also included in the cosmological constant. The cosmological constant can be formulated to be equivalent to [[vacuum energy]]. Scalar fields having only a slight amount of spatial inhomogeneity would be difficult to distinguish from a cosmological constant.

=== Dark matter ===
{{Main|Dark matter}}
Dark matter is a hypothetical kind of [[matter]] that is invisible to the entire [[electromagnetic spectrum]], but which accounts for most of the matter in the universe. The existence and properties of dark matter are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation, and the [[Observable universe#Large-scale structure|large-scale structure]] of the universe. Other than [[neutrinos]], a form of [[hot dark matter]], dark matter has not been detected directly, making it one of the greatest mysteries in modern [[astrophysics]]. Dark matter neither [[blackbody spectrum|emits]] nor absorbs light or any other [[electromagnetic radiation]] at any significant level. Dark matter is estimated to constitute 26.8% of the total mass–energy and 84.5% <!--26.8/(4.9 + 26.8)--> of the total matter in the universe.<ref name="DarkMatter">Sean Carroll, Ph.D., Caltech, 2007, The Teaching Company, ''Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe'', Guidebook Part 2. p. 46, Accessed October 7, 2013, "...dark matter: An invisible, essentially collisionless component of matter that makes up about 25 percent of the energy density of the universe... it's a different kind of particle... something not yet observed in the laboratory..."</ref><ref name=planckcam>{{cite web |url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/planck-captures-portrait-of-the-young-universe-revealing-earliest-light |title=Planck captures portrait of the young universe, revealing earliest light |date=March 21, 2013 |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=March 21, 2013 |archive-date=April 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417165900/https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/planck-captures-portrait-of-the-young-universe-revealing-earliest-light |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Ordinary matter ===
{{Main|Matter}}
The remaining 4.9% of the mass–energy of the universe is ordinary matter, that is, [[atom]]s, [[ion]]s, [[electron]]s and the objects they form. This matter includes [[star]]s, which produce nearly all of the light we see from galaxies, as well as interstellar gas in the [[interstellar medium|interstellar]] and [[intergalactic medium|intergalactic]] media, [[planet]]s, and all the objects from everyday life that we can bump into, touch or squeeze.<ref name="Davies2">{{cite book |author=Davies |first=P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akb2FpZSGnMC&pg=PA1 |title=The New Physics: A Synthesis |date=1992 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-43831-5 |page=1 |language=en |access-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203103749/https://books.google.com/books?id=akb2FpZSGnMC&pg=PA1 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> The great majority of ordinary matter in the universe is unseen, since visible stars and gas inside galaxies and clusters account for less than 10 per cent of the ordinary matter contribution to the mass–energy density of the universe.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1=Persic
| first1=Massimo
| last2=Salucci
| first2=Paolo
| date=September 1, 1992
| title=The baryon content of the universe
| journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| language=en
| volume=258
| issue=1
| pages=14P–18P
| doi=10.1093/mnras/258.1.14P
| issn=0035-8711
|arxiv=astro-ph/0502178 |bibcode=1992MNRAS.258P..14P |s2cid=17945298
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shull |first1=J. Michael |last2=Smith |first2=Britton D. |last3=Danforth |first3=Charles W. |date=2012-11-01 |title=The Baryon Census in a Multiphase Intergalactic Medium: 30% of the Baryons May Still Be Missing |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/23 |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=759 |issue=1 |pages=23 |doi=10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/23 |arxiv=1112.2706 |bibcode=2012ApJ...759...23S |s2cid=119295243 |issn=0004-637X |quote=Galaxy surveys have found ~10% of these baryons in collapsed objects such as galaxies, groups, and clusters [...]  Of the remaining 80%–90% of cosmological baryons, approximately half can be accounted for in the low-z [intergalactic medium]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Macquart |first1=J.-P. |last2=Prochaska |first2=J. X. |last3=McQuinn |first3=M. |last4=Bannister |first4=K. W. |last5=Bhandari |first5=S. |last6=Day |first6=C. K. |last7=Deller |first7=A. T. |last8=Ekers |first8=R. D. |last9=James |first9=C. W. |last10=Marnoch |first10=L. |last11=Osłowski |first11=S. |last12=Phillips |first12=C. |last13=Ryder |first13=S. D. |last14=Scott |first14=D. R. |last15=Shannon |first15=R. M. |date=2020-05-28 |title=A census of baryons in the Universe from localized fast radio bursts |url=http://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2300-2 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=581 |issue=7809 |pages=391–395 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2300-2 |pmid=32461651 |arxiv=2005.13161 |bibcode=2020Natur.581..391M |s2cid=256821489 |issn=0028-0836}}</ref>

Ordinary matter commonly exists in four [[state of matter|states]] (or [[phase (matter)|phases]]): [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]], and [[plasma (physics)|plasma]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://openstax.org/books/chemistry-2e/pages/1-2-phases-and-classification-of-matter |title=Chemistry 2e |publisher=OpenStax |first1=Paul |last1=Flowers |display-authors=etal |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-947-17262-3 |page=14}}</ref> However, advances in experimental techniques have revealed other previously theoretical phases, such as [[Bose–Einstein condensate]]s and [[fermionic condensate]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2001 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2001/popular-information/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cohen-Tannoudji |first1=Claude |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HT_ICgAAQBAJ |title=Advances In Atomic Physics: An Overview |last2=Guery-Odelin |first2=David |date=2011 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-4390-58-3 |pages=684 |language=en |author-link=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji}}</ref>

Ordinary matter is composed of two types of [[elementary particle]]s: [[quark]]s and [[lepton]]s.<ref name="Hooft">{{cite book |author='t Hooft |first=G. |url=https://archive.org/details/insearchofultima0000hoof |title=In search of the ultimate building blocks |date=1997 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-57883-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/insearchofultima0000hoof/page/6 6] |language=en |url-access=registration}}</ref> For example, the proton is formed of two [[up quarks]] and one [[down quark]]; the neutron is formed of two down quarks and one up quark; and the electron is a kind of lepton. An atom consists of an [[atomic nucleus]], made up of protons and neutrons (both of which are [[baryons]]), and electrons that orbit the nucleus.<ref name="OpenStax-college-physics">{{cite book|url=https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-2e/pages/33-4-particles-patterns-and-conservation-laws |title=College Physics 2e |publisher=OpenStax |first1=Paul Peter |last1=Urone |display-authors=etal |isbn=978-1-951-69360-2 |year=2022}}</ref>{{rp|1476}} Because most of the mass of an atom is concentrated in its nucleus, which is made up of baryons, astronomers often use the term ''[[Baryon#Baryonic matter|baryonic matter]]'' to describe ordinary matter, although a small fraction of this "baryonic matter" is electrons.

Soon after the [[Big Bang]], primordial protons and neutrons formed from the [[quark–gluon plasma]] of the early universe as it cooled below two trillion degrees. A few minutes later, in a process known as [[Big Bang nucleosynthesis]], nuclei formed from the primordial protons and neutrons. This nucleosynthesis formed lighter elements, those with small atomic numbers up to [[lithium]] and [[beryllium]], but the abundance of heavier elements dropped off sharply with increasing atomic number. Some [[boron]] may have been formed at this time, but the next heavier element, [[carbon]], was not formed in significant amounts. Big Bang nucleosynthesis shut down after about 20 minutes due to the rapid drop in temperature and density of the expanding universe. Subsequent formation of [[metallicity|heavier elements]] resulted from [[stellar nucleosynthesis]] and [[supernova nucleosynthesis]].<ref name=Clayton1983>{{cite book|last1=Clayton|first1=Donald D.|title=Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis|url=https://archive.org/details/principlesofstel0000clay|url-access=registration|date=1983|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-10953-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/principlesofstel0000clay/page/362 362–435]}}</ref>

=== Particles ===
[[File:Standard Model of Elementary Particles.svg|thumb|upright=2.2|Standard model of elementary particles: the 12 fundamental fermions and 4 fundamental bosons. Brown loops indicate which bosons (red) couple to which fermions (purple and green). Columns are three generations of matter (fermions) and one of forces (bosons). In the first three columns, two rows contain quarks and two leptons. The top two rows' columns contain up (u) and down (d) quarks, charm (c) and strange (s) quarks, top (t) and bottom (b) quarks, and photon (γ) and gluon (g), respectively. The bottom two rows' columns contain electron neutrino (ν<sub>e</sub>) and electron (e), muon neutrino (ν<sub>μ</sub>) and muon (μ), tau neutrino (ν<sub>τ</sub>) and tau (τ), and the Z<sup>0</sup> and W<sup>±</sup> carriers of the weak force. Mass, charge, and spin are listed for each particle.|alt=A four-by-four table of particles. Columns are three generations of matter (fermions) and one of forces (bosons). In the first three columns, two rows contain quarks and two leptons. The top two rows' columns contain up (u) and down (d) quarks, charm (c) and strange (s) quarks, top (t) and bottom (b) quarks, and photon (γ) and gluon (g), respectively. The bottom two rows' columns contain electron neutrino (ν sub e) and electron (e), muon neutrino (ν sub μ) and muon (μ), and tau neutrino (ν sub τ) and tau (τ), and Z sup 0 and W sup ± weak force. Mass, charge, and spin are listed for each particle.]]

{{Main|Particle physics}}

Ordinary matter and the forces that act on matter can be described in terms of [[elementary particle]]s.<ref>{{cite book |author=Veltman, Martinus |title=Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics |url=https://archive.org/details/factsmysteriesin0000velt |url-access=registration |publisher=World Scientific |year=2003 |isbn=978-981-238-149-1}}</ref> These particles are sometimes described as being fundamental, since they have an unknown substructure, and it is unknown whether or not they are composed of smaller and even more fundamental particles.<ref name=PFIp1-3>{{cite book
 |first1=Sylvie
 |last1=Braibant
 |first2=Giorgio
 |last2=Giacomelli
 |first3=Maurizio
 |last3=Spurio
 |year=2012
 |title=Particles and Fundamental Interactions: An Introduction to Particle Physics
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8YUUG2pGeIC&pg=PA1
 |edition=2nd
 |pages=1–3
 |publisher=[[Springer (publisher)|Springer]]
 |isbn=978-94-007-2463-1
 |access-date=January 27, 2016
 |archive-date=August 26, 2016
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826133823/https://books.google.com/books?id=e8YUUG2pGeIC&pg=PA1
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref><ref name=Close>{{cite book
 |author-last=Close
 |author-first=Frank
 |year=2012
 |title=Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |isbn=978-0-19-280434-1
}}</ref> In most contemporary models they are thought of as points in space.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mann |first=Adam |date=2022-08-20 |title=What Are Elementary Particles? |url=https://www.livescience.com/65427-fundamental-elementary-particles.html |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=Live Science}}</ref> All elementary particles are currently best explained by [[quantum mechanics]] and exhibit [[wave–particle duality]]: their behavior has both particle-like and [[wave]]-like aspects, with different features dominating under different circumstances.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zwiebach |first=Barton |title=Mastering Quantum Mechanics: Essentials, Theory, and Applications |publisher=MIT Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-262-04613-8 |page=31 |author-link=Barton Zwiebach}}</ref>

Of central importance is the [[Standard Model]], a theory that is concerned with [[Electromagnetism|electromagnetic]] interactions and the [[Weak interaction|weak]] and [[Strong interaction|strong]] nuclear interactions.<ref name="Oerter2006">{{cite book |author=Oerter |first=R. |url=https://archive.org/details/theoryofalmostev0000oert |title=The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-13-236678-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/theoryofalmostev0000oert/page/2 2] |format=Kindle |url-access=registration}}</ref> The Standard Model is supported by the experimental confirmation of the existence of particles that compose matter: [[quark]]s and [[lepton]]s, and their corresponding "[[antimatter]]" duals, as well as the force particles that mediate [[fundamental interactions|interactions]]: the [[photon]], the [[W and Z bosons]], and the [[gluon]].<ref name=PFIp1-3 /> The Standard Model predicted the existence of the recently discovered [[Higgs boson]], a particle that is a manifestation of a field within the universe that can endow particles with mass.<ref name="OnyisiFAQ">{{cite web
 |last=Onyisi
 |first=P.
 |date=October 23, 2012
 |title=Higgs boson FAQ
 |url=https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/utatlas/Higgs+boson+FAQ
 |publisher=[[University of Texas]] ATLAS group
 |access-date=January 8, 2013
 |archive-date=October 12, 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012130340/https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/utatlas/Higgs+boson+FAQ
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref><ref name="strasslerFAQ2">{{cite web
 |last=Strassler
 |first=M.
 |date=October 12, 2012
 |title=The Higgs FAQ 2.0
 |url=http://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/the-higgs-particle/the-higgs-faq-2-0/
 |work=ProfMattStrassler.com
 |access-date=January 8, 2013
 |quote=[Q] Why do particle physicists care so much about the Higgs particle?<br />[A] Well, actually, they don't. What they really care about is the Higgs ''field'', because it is ''so'' important. [emphasis in original]
 |archive-date=October 12, 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012042637/http://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/the-higgs-particle/the-higgs-faq-2-0/
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> Because of its success in explaining a wide variety of experimental results, the Standard Model is sometimes regarded as a "theory of almost everything".<ref name=Oerter2006 /> The Standard Model does not, however, accommodate gravity. A true force–particle "theory of everything" has not been attained.<ref name="Weinberg2011">{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Weinberg|title=Dreams of a Final Theory: The Scientist's Search for the Ultimate Laws of Nature|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-78786-6|date=2011}}</ref>

==== Hadrons ====
{{Main|Hadron}}
A hadron is a [[composite particle]] made of [[quark]]s [[bound state|held together]] by the [[strong force]]. Hadrons are categorized into two families: [[baryon]]s (such as [[proton]]s and [[neutron]]s) made of three quarks, and [[meson]]s (such as [[pion]]s) made of one quark and one [[antiparticle|antiquark]]. Of the hadrons, protons are stable, and neutrons bound within atomic nuclei are stable. Other hadrons are unstable under ordinary conditions and are thus insignificant constituents of the modern universe.<ref name=Allday2002/>{{rp|118–123}}

From approximately 10<sup>−6</sup> seconds after the [[Big Bang]], during a period known as the [[hadron epoch]], the temperature of the universe had fallen sufficiently to allow quarks to bind together into hadrons, and the mass of the universe was dominated by [[hadron]]s. Initially, the temperature was high enough to allow the formation of hadron–anti-hadron pairs, which kept matter and antimatter in [[thermal equilibrium]]. However, as the temperature of the universe continued to fall, hadron–anti-hadron pairs were no longer produced. Most of the hadrons and anti-hadrons were then eliminated in particle–antiparticle [[annihilation]] reactions, leaving a small residual of hadrons by the time the universe was about one second old.<ref name=Allday2002>{{cite book|last1=Allday|first1=Jonathan|title=Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang|date=2002|publisher=IOP Publishing|isbn=978-0-7503-0806-9|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|244–266}}

==== Leptons ====
{{Main|Lepton}}
A lepton is an [[elementary particle|elementary]], [[half-integer spin]] particle that does not undergo strong interactions but is subject to the [[Pauli exclusion principle]]; no two leptons of the same species can be in exactly the same state at the same time.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Lepton (physics)
 |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336940/lepton
 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
 |access-date=September 29, 2010
 |archive-date=May 11, 2015
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511203531/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336940/lepton
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> Two main classes of leptons exist: [[electric charge|charged]] leptons (also known as the ''electron-like'' leptons), and neutral leptons (better known as [[neutrino]]s). Electrons are stable and the most common charged lepton in the universe, whereas [[muon]]s and [[tau (particle)|taus]] are unstable particles that quickly decay after being produced in [[high energy physics|high energy]] collisions, such as those involving [[cosmic ray]]s or carried out in [[particle accelerator]]s.<ref>{{cite book
 | last=Harari | first=H.
 | year=1977
 | chapter=Beyond charm
 | title=Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions at High Energy, Les Houches, France, Jul 5 – Aug 14, 1976
 | editor1-last=Balian | editor1-first=R.
 | editor2-last=Llewellyn-Smith | editor2-first=C.H.
 | series=Les Houches Summer School Proceedings
 | volume=29 | page=613
 | publisher=[[North-Holland Publishing Company|North-Holland]]
}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference
 |author=Harari H.
 |title=Three generations of quarks and leptons
 |url=https://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getdoc/slac-pub-1974.pdf
 |book-title=Proceedings of the XII Rencontre de Moriond
 |editor1=E. van Goeler
 |editor2=Weinstein R.
 |page=170
 |year=1977
 |id=SLAC-PUB-1974
 |conference=
 |access-date=May 29, 2020
 |archive-date=May 13, 2020
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513180308/https://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getdoc/slac-pub-1974.pdf
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> Charged leptons can combine with other particles to form various [[composite particle]]s such as [[atom]]s and [[positronium]]. The [[electron]] governs nearly all of [[chemistry]], as it is found in [[atom]]s and is directly tied to all [[chemical property|chemical properties]]. Neutrinos rarely interact with anything, and are consequently rarely observed. Neutrinos stream throughout the universe but rarely interact with normal matter.<ref>{{cite press release
 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT News Office]]
 |date=April 18, 2007
 |title=Experiment confirms famous physics model
 |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/neutrino.html
 |access-date=June 2, 2015
 |archive-date=July 5, 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705100832/http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/neutrino.html
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref>

The [[lepton epoch]] was the period in the evolution of the early universe in which the [[lepton]]s dominated the mass of the universe. It started roughly 1 second after the [[Big Bang]], after the majority of hadrons and anti-hadrons annihilated each other at the end of the [[hadron epoch]]. During the lepton epoch the temperature of the universe was still high enough to create lepton–anti-lepton pairs, so leptons and anti-leptons were in thermal equilibrium. Approximately 10 seconds after the Big Bang, the temperature of the universe had fallen to the point where lepton–anti-lepton pairs were no longer created.<ref>{{cite web|title=Thermal history of the universe and early growth of density fluctuations|url=http://wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~gamk/TUM_Lectures/Lecture4.pdf|work=Guinevere Kauffmann|publisher=[[Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics]]|access-date=January 6, 2016|archive-date=August 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821041542/http://wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~gamk/TUM_Lectures/Lecture4.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Most leptons and anti-leptons were then eliminated in [[annihilation]] reactions, leaving a small residue of leptons. The mass of the universe was then dominated by [[photon]]s as it entered the following [[photon epoch]].<ref>{{cite web|title=First few minutes|work=Eric Chaisson|publisher=Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics|url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~ejchaisson/cosmic_evolution/docs/fr_1/fr_1_part3.html|access-date=January 6, 2016|archive-date=December 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204050252/https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~ejchaisson/cosmic_evolution/docs/fr_1/fr_1_part3.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Timeline of the Big Bang|work=The physics of the Universe|url=https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html|access-date=January 6, 2016|archive-date=March 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330140345/https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Photons ====
{{Main|Photon epoch}}
{{See also|Photino}}
A photon is the [[quantum]] of [[light]] and all other forms of [[electromagnetic radiation]]. It is the [[force carrier|carrier]] for the [[electromagnetic force]]. The effects of this [[force]] are easily observable at the [[microscopic scale|microscopic]] and at the [[macroscopic scale|macroscopic]] level because the photon has zero [[rest mass]]; this allows long distance [[fundamental interaction|interactions]].<ref name="OpenStax-college-physics"/>{{rp|1470}}

The photon epoch started after most leptons and anti-leptons were [[annihilation|annihilated]] at the end of the lepton epoch, about 10 seconds after the Big Bang. Atomic nuclei were created in the process of nucleosynthesis which occurred during the first few minutes of the photon epoch. For the remainder of the photon epoch the universe contained a hot dense [[plasma (physics)|plasma]] of nuclei, electrons and photons. About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the temperature of the universe fell to the point where nuclei could combine with electrons to create neutral atoms. As a result, photons no longer interacted frequently with matter and the universe became transparent. The highly redshifted photons from this period form the cosmic microwave background. Tiny variations in temperature and density detectable in the CMB were the early "seeds" from which all subsequent [[structure formation]] took place.<ref name=Allday2002 />{{rp|244–266}}
{{Big Bang timeline|state=collapsed}}

== Cosmological models ==
=== Model of the universe based on general relativity ===
{{Main|Solutions of the Einstein field equations}}
{{See also|Big Bang|Ultimate fate of the universe}}
[[General relativity]] is the [[Differential geometry|geometric]] [[Theoretical physics|theory]] of [[gravitation]] published by [[Albert Einstein]] in 1915 and the current description of gravitation in [[modern physics]]. It is the basis of current [[Physical cosmology|cosmological]] models of the universe. General relativity generalizes [[special relativity]] and [[Newton's law of universal gravitation]], providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of [[space]] and [[Time in physics|time]], or spacetime. In particular, the [[curvature]] of spacetime is directly related to the [[energy]] and [[momentum]] of whatever [[matter]] and [[radiation]] are present.<ref name="zeilik_cosmology" />

The relation is specified by the [[Einstein field equations]], a system of [[partial differential equation]]s. In general relativity, the distribution of matter and energy determines the geometry of spacetime, which in turn describes the [[acceleration]] of matter. Therefore, solutions of the Einstein field equations describe the evolution of the universe. Combined with measurements of the amount, type, and distribution of matter in the universe, the equations of general relativity describe the evolution of the universe over time.<ref name="zeilik_cosmology" />

With the assumption of the [[cosmological principle]] that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic everywhere, a specific solution of the field equations that describes the universe is the [[metric (general relativity)|metric tensor]] called the [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric]],
:<math>
ds^2 = -c^{2} dt^2 +
R(t)^2 \left( \frac{dr^2}{1-k r^2} + r^2 d\theta^2 + r^2 \sin^2 \theta \, d\phi^2 \right)
</math>
where (''r'', θ, φ) correspond to a [[spherical coordinate system]]. This metric has only two undetermined parameters. An overall [[dimensionless]] length [[scale factor (cosmology)|scale factor]] ''R'' describes the size scale of the universe as a function of time (an increase in ''R'' is the [[expansion of the universe]]),<ref>{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|p=12}}</ref> and a curvature index ''k'' describes the geometry. The index ''k'' is defined so that it can take only one of three values: 0, corresponding to flat [[Euclidean geometry]]; 1, corresponding to a space of positive [[curvature]]; or −1, corresponding to a space of positive or negative curvature.<ref name="RaineThomas66" /> The value of ''R'' as a function of time ''t'' depends upon ''k'' and the [[cosmological constant]] ''Λ''.<ref name="zeilik_cosmology">{{cite book |title=Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics |last1=Zeilik |first1=Michael |last2=Gregory |first2=Stephen A. |date=1998 |edition=4th |publisher=Saunders College Publishing |isbn=978-0-03-006228-5 |section=25-2}}</ref> The cosmological constant represents the energy density of the vacuum of space and could be related to dark energy.<ref name="peebles" /> The equation describing how ''R'' varies with time is known as the [[Friedmann equation]] after its inventor, [[Alexander Friedmann]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Friedmann |first=A. |author-link=Alexander Friedmann |date=1922 |title=Über die Krümmung des Raumes |url=http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/files/16735/E001554876.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Zeitschrift für Physik |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=377–386 |bibcode=1922ZPhy...10..377F |doi=10.1007/BF01332580 |s2cid=125190902 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160515100312/http%3A//publikationen.ub.uni%2Dfrankfurt.de/files/16735/E001554876.pdf |archive-date=May 15, 2016 |access-date=August 13, 2015}}</ref>

The solutions for ''R(t)'' depend on ''k'' and ''Λ'', but some qualitative features of such solutions are general. First and most importantly, the length scale ''R'' of the universe can remain constant ''only'' if the universe is perfectly isotropic with positive curvature (''k''=1) and has one precise value of density everywhere, as first noted by [[Albert Einstein]].<ref name="zeilik_cosmology" /> However, this equilibrium is unstable: if the density were slightly different from the needed value, at any place, the difference would be amplified over time.

Second, all solutions suggest that there was a [[gravitational singularity]] in the past, when ''R'' went to zero and matter and energy were infinitely dense. It may seem that this conclusion is uncertain because it is based on the questionable assumptions of perfect homogeneity and isotropy (the cosmological principle) and that only the gravitational interaction is significant. However, the [[Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems]] show that a singularity should exist for very general conditions. Hence, according to Einstein's field equations, ''R'' grew rapidly from an unimaginably hot, dense state that existed immediately following this singularity (when ''R'' had a small, finite value); this is the essence of the [[Big Bang]] model of the universe. Understanding the singularity of the Big Bang likely requires a [[quantum theory of gravity]], which has not yet been formulated.<ref>{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|pp=122–123}}</ref>

Third, the curvature index ''k'' determines the sign of the curvature of constant-time spatial surfaces<ref name="RaineThomas66">{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|p=66}}</ref> averaged over sufficiently large length scales (greater than about a billion [[light-year]]s). If ''k''=1, the curvature is positive and the universe has a finite volume.<ref name="RaineThomas70" /> A universe with positive curvature is often visualized as a [[3-sphere|three-dimensional sphere]] embedded in a four-dimensional space. Conversely, if ''k'' is zero or negative, the universe has an infinite volume.<ref name="RaineThomas70">{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|p=70}}</ref> It may seem counter-intuitive that an infinite and yet infinitely dense universe could be created in a single instant when ''R'' = 0, but exactly that is predicted mathematically when ''k'' is nonpositive and the [[cosmological principle]] is satisfied. By analogy, an infinite plane has zero curvature but infinite area, whereas an infinite cylinder is finite in one direction and a [[torus]] is finite in both. A toroidal universe could behave like a normal universe with [[periodic boundary conditions]].

The [[ultimate fate of the universe]] is still unknown because it depends critically on the curvature index ''k'' and the cosmological constant ''Λ''. If the universe were sufficiently dense, ''k'' would equal +1, meaning that its average curvature throughout is positive and the universe will eventually recollapse in a [[Big Crunch]],<ref>{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|p=84}}</ref> possibly starting a new universe in a [[Big Bounce]]. Conversely, if the universe were insufficiently dense, ''k'' would equal 0 or −1 and the universe would expand forever, cooling off and eventually reaching the [[Future of an expanding universe|Big Freeze]] and the [[heat death of the universe]].<ref name="zeilik_cosmology" /> Modern data suggests that the [[accelerated expansion|expansion of the universe is accelerating]]; if this acceleration is sufficiently rapid, the universe may eventually reach a [[Big Rip]]. Observationally, the universe appears to be flat (''k'' = 0), with an overall density that is very close to the critical value between recollapse and eternal expansion.<ref>{{harvtxt|Raine|Thomas|2001|pp=88, 110–113}}</ref>

=== Multiverse hypotheses ===
{{Main|Multiverse|Many-worlds interpretation|Bubble universe theory}}
{{See also|Eternal inflation}}
Some speculative theories have proposed that our universe is but one of a [[set (mathematics)|set]] of disconnected universes, collectively denoted as the [[multiverse]], challenging or enhancing more limited definitions of the universe.<ref name="EllisKS032" /><ref>{{cite journal |author=Munitz |first=M. K. |date=1959 |title=One Universe or Many? |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=231–255 |doi=10.2307/2707516 |jstor=2707516}}</ref> Scientific multiverse models are distinct from concepts such as [[plane (esotericism)|alternate planes of consciousness]] and [[simulated reality]].

[[Max Tegmark]] developed a four-part [[Multiverse#Max Tegmark's four levels|classification scheme]] for the different types of multiverses that scientists have suggested in response to various problems in [[physics]]. An example of such multiverses is the one resulting from the [[bubble universe theory|chaotic inflation]] model of the early universe.<ref name="chaotic_inflation">{{cite journal |author=Linde |first=A. |author-link=Andrei Linde |date=1986 |title=Eternal chaotic inflation |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/167897 |url-status=live |journal=Mod. Phys. Lett. A |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=81–85 |bibcode=1986MPLA....1...81L |doi=10.1142/S0217732386000129 |s2cid=123472763 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417211031/https://cds.cern.ch/record/167897/ |archive-date=April 17, 2019 |access-date=August 6, 2017}}<br />{{cite journal |author=Linde |first=A. |author-link=Andrei Linde |date=1986 |title=Eternally existing self-reproducing chaotic inflationary Universe |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~alinde/Eternal86.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Phys. Lett. B |volume=175 |issue=4 |pages=395–400 |bibcode=1986PhLB..175..395L |doi=10.1016/0370-2693(86)90611-8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127164909/http://www.stanford.edu/~alinde/Eternal86.pdf |archive-date=November 27, 2013 |access-date=March 17, 2011}}</ref> Another is the multiverse resulting from the [[many-worlds interpretation]] of quantum mechanics. In this interpretation, parallel worlds are generated in a manner similar to [[quantum superposition]] and [[decoherence]], with all states of the [[wave function]]s being realized in separate worlds. Effectively, in the many-worlds interpretation the multiverse evolves as a [[universal wavefunction]]. If the Big Bang that created our multiverse created an ensemble of multiverses, the wave function of the ensemble would be entangled in this sense.<ref name=everett1957>{{cite journal |last1=Everett |first1=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Everett |year=1957 |title=Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=454–462 |bibcode=1957RvMP...29..454E |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.29.454 |s2cid=17178479 }}</ref> Whether scientifically meaningful probabilities can be extracted from this picture has been and continues to be a topic of much debate, and multiple versions of the many-worlds interpretation exist.<ref name="ball">{{Cite web |last=Ball |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Ball |date=2015-02-17 |title=Too many worlds |url=https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-many-worlds-hypothesis-just-a-fantasy |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-23 |website=[[Aeon.co]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927130915/https://aeon.co/essays/is-the-many-worlds-hypothesis-just-a-fantasy|archive-date=Sep 27, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Peres |first=Asher |title=[[Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods]] |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |year=1995 |isbn=0-7923-2549-4 |pages=374 |author-link=Asher Peres}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kent |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Kent |date=February 2015 |title=Does it Make Sense to Speak of Self-Locating Uncertainty in the Universal Wave Function? Remarks on Sebens and Carroll |journal=Foundations of Physics |language=en |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=211–217 |arxiv=1408.1944 |bibcode=2015FoPh...45..211K |doi=10.1007/s10701-014-9862-5 |issn=0015-9018 |s2cid=118471198}}</ref> (The subject of the [[Interpretations of quantum mechanics|interpretation of quantum mechanics]] is in general marked by disagreement.)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schlosshauer |first1=Maximilian |last2=Kofler |first2=Johannes |last3=Zeilinger |first3=Anton |author-link3=Anton Zeilinger |date=2013-08-01 |title=A snapshot of foundational attitudes toward quantum mechanics |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=222–230 |arxiv=1301.1069 |bibcode=2013SHPMP..44..222S |doi=10.1016/j.shpsb.2013.04.004 |issn=1355-2198 |s2cid=55537196}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Mermin |first=N. David |author-link=N. David Mermin |date=2012-07-01 |title=Commentary: Quantum mechanics: Fixing the shifty split |journal=[[Physics Today]] |volume=65 |issue=7 |pages=8–10 |bibcode=2012PhT....65g...8M |doi=10.1063/PT.3.1618 |issn=0031-9228 |quote=New interpretations appear every year. None ever disappear. |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Cabello |first=Adán |title=What is Quantum Information? |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781107142114 |editor-last=Lombardi |editor-first=Olimpia |editor-link=Olimpia Lombardi |pages=138–143 |chapter=Interpretations of quantum theory: A map of madness |bibcode=2015arXiv150904711C |doi=10.1017/9781316494233.009 |editor2-last=Fortin |editor2-first=Sebastian |editor3-last=Holik |editor3-first=Federico |editor4-last=López |editor4-first=Cristian |arxiv=1509.04711 |s2cid=118419619}}</ref>

The least controversial, but still highly disputed, category of multiverse in Tegmark's scheme is [[Multiverse#Level I: An extension of our universe|Level I]]. The multiverses of this level are composed by distant spacetime events "in our own universe". Tegmark and others<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jaume |last1=Garriga |first2=Alexander |last2=Vilenkin |date=2007 |title=Many Worlds in One |journal=Physical Review D |volume=64 |issue=4 |page=043511 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.64.043511 |arxiv=gr-qc/0102010v2|s2cid=119000743 }}</ref> have argued that, if space is infinite, or sufficiently large and uniform, identical instances of the history of Earth's entire [[Hubble volume]] occur every so often, simply by chance. Tegmark calculated that our nearest so-called [[doppelgänger]] is 10<sup>10<sup>115</sup></sup> metres away from us (a [[double exponential function]] larger than a [[googolplex]]).<ref name="TegmarkPUstaple">{{cite journal |author=Tegmark |first=Max |date=2003 |title=Parallel universes. Not just a staple of science fiction, other universes are a direct implication of cosmological observations |journal=Scientific American |volume=288 |issue=5 |pages=40–51 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302131 |bibcode=2003SciAm.288e..40T |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0503-40 |pmid=12701329}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Tegmark, Max |journal=Scientific American |title=Parallel Universes |date=2003 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302131|bibcode=2003SciAm.288e..40T |pages=40–51|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0503-40 |pmid=12701329 |volume=288|issue=5 }}</ref> However, the arguments used are of speculative nature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gil |first1=Francisco José Soler |last2=Alfonseca |first2=Manuel |date=2013 |title=About the Infinite Repetition of Histories in Space |journal=Theoria: An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science |volume=29 |issue=3 |page=361 |arxiv=1301.5295 |doi=10.1387/theoria.9951 |s2cid=52996408 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10486/664735}}</ref> Additionally, it would be impossible to scientifically verify the existence of an identical Hubble volume.

It is possible to conceive of disconnected spacetimes, each existing but unable to interact with one another.<ref name="TegmarkPUstaple" /><ref name="EllisScA">{{cite journal |author=Ellis |first=G. F. |date=2011 |title=Does the Multiverse Really Exist? |journal=Scientific American |volume=305 |issue=2 |pages=38–43 |bibcode=2011SciAm.305a..38E |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0811-38 |pmid=21827123}}</ref> An easily visualized metaphor of this concept is a group of separate [[soap bubble]]s, in which observers living on one soap bubble cannot interact with those on other soap bubbles, even in principle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livescience.com/15530-multiverse-universe-eternal-inflation-test.html |title=Weird! Our Universe May Be a 'Multiverse,' Scientists Say |first=Clara |last=Moskowitz|author-link= Clara Moskowitz |date=August 12, 2011 |work=livescience |access-date=May 4, 2015 |archive-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003038/http://www.livescience.com/15530-multiverse-universe-eternal-inflation-test.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to one common terminology, each "soap bubble" of spacetime is denoted as a ''universe'', whereas humans' particular spacetime is denoted as ''the universe'',<ref name="EllisKS032" /> just as humans call Earth's moon ''the [[Moon]]''. The entire collection of these separate spacetimes is denoted as the multiverse.<ref name="EllisKS032">{{cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=George F. R. |author-link=George Francis Rayner Ellis |last2=Kirchner |first2=U. |last3=Stoeger |first3=W. R. |date=2004 |title=Multiverses and physical cosmology |journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] |volume=347 |issue=3 |pages=921–936 |arxiv=astro-ph/0305292 |bibcode=2004MNRAS.347..921E |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07261.x |s2cid=119028830}}</ref>

With this terminology, different ''universes'' are not [[causality|causally connected]] to each other.<ref name="EllisKS032" /> In principle, the other unconnected ''universes'' may have different [[dimension]]alities and [[Topology|topologies]] of spacetime, different forms of [[matter]] and [[energy]], and different [[physical law]]s and [[physical constant]]s, although such possibilities are purely speculative.<ref name="EllisKS032" /> Others consider each of several bubbles created as part of [[chaotic inflation]] to be separate ''universes'', though in this model these universes all share a causal origin.<ref name="EllisKS032" />

== Historical conceptions ==
{{See also|Cosmology|Timeline of cosmological theories|Nicolaus Copernicus#Copernican system|Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica#Beginnings of the Scientific Revolution}}
Historically, there have been many ideas of the cosmos (cosmologies) and its origin (cosmogonies). Theories of an impersonal universe governed by physical laws were first proposed by the Greeks and Indians.<ref name=Routledge /> Ancient Chinese philosophy encompassed the notion of the universe including both all of space and all of time.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gernet|first=J.|date=1993–1994|title=Space and time: Science and religion in the encounter between China and Europe|journal=Chinese Science|volume=11|pages=93–102}}</ref> Over the centuries, improvements in astronomical observations and theories of motion and gravitation led to ever more accurate descriptions of the universe. The modern era of cosmology began with [[Albert Einstein]]'s 1915 [[general relativity|general theory of relativity]], which made it possible to quantitatively predict the origin, evolution, and conclusion of the universe as a whole. Most modern, accepted theories of cosmology are based on general relativity and, more specifically, the predicted [[Big Bang]].<ref name="Blandford">{{cite journal|title=A century of general relativity: Astrophysics and cosmology|author=Blandford R. D.|journal=Science|volume=347|issue=6226|pages=1103–1108|doi=10.1126/science.aaa4033|bibcode=2015Sci...347.1103B|pmid=25745165|year=2015|s2cid=30364122}}</ref>

=== Mythologies ===
{{Main|Creation myth|Cosmogony|Religious cosmology}}
Many cultures have [[List of creation myths|stories describing the origin of the world and universe]]. Cultures generally regard these stories as having some [[truth]]. There are however many differing beliefs in how these stories apply amongst those believing in a supernatural origin, ranging from a god directly creating the universe as it is now to a god just setting the "wheels in motion" (for example via mechanisms such as the big bang and evolution).<ref>{{cite book |quote="In common usage the word 'myth' refers to narratives or beliefs that are untrue or merely fanciful; the stories that make up national or ethnic mythologies describe characters and events that common sense and experience tell us are impossible. Nevertheless, all cultures celebrate such myths and attribute to them various degrees of literal or symbolic ''truth''." |last=Leeming |first=David A. |isbn=978-1-59884-174-9 |date=2010|page=xvii |title=Creation Myths of the World |publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref>

Ethnologists and anthropologists who study myths have developed various classification schemes for the various themes that appear in creation stories.<ref name=Eliade1964>{{cite book|last1=Eliade|first1=Mircea|title=Myth and Reality (Religious Traditions of the World)|date=1964|publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-0-04-291001-7}}</ref><ref name=Leonard2004>{{cite book|last1=Leonard|first1=Scott A.|last2=McClure|first2=Michael|title=Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology|date=2004|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-7674-1957-4|edition=}}</ref> For example, in one type of story, the world is born from a [[world egg]]; such stories include the [[Finnish people|Finnish]] [[epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[Kalevala]]'', the [[China|Chinese]] story of [[Pangu]] or the [[History of India|Indian]] [[Brahmanda Purana]]. In related stories, the universe is created by a single entity emanating or producing something by him- or herself, as in the [[Tibetan Buddhism]] concept of [[Adi-Buddha]], the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] story of [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Mother Earth), the [[Aztec mythology|Aztec]] goddess [[Coatlicue]] myth, the [[ancient Egyptian religion|ancient Egyptian]] [[Ennead|god]] [[Atum]] story, and the [[Judeo-Christian]] [[Genesis creation narrative]] in which the [[God in Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic God]] created the universe. In another type of story, the universe is created from the union of male and female deities, as in the [[Maori mythology|Maori story]] of [[Rangi and Papa]]. In other stories, the universe is created by crafting it from pre-existing materials, such as the corpse of a dead god—as from [[Tiamat]] in the [[Babylon]]ian epic ''[[Enuma Elish]]'' or from the giant [[Ymir]] in [[Norse mythology]]—or from chaotic materials, as in [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] in [[Japanese mythology]]. In other stories, the universe emanates from fundamental principles, such as [[Brahman]] and [[Prakrti]], the [[Serer creation myth|creation myth]] of the [[Serer people|Serers]],<ref>([[Henry Gravrand]], "La civilisation Sereer -Pangool") [in] [[Universität Frankfurt am Main]], Frobenius-Institut, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturmorphologie, Frobenius Gesellschaft, "Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Volumes 43–44", F. Steiner (1997), pp. 144–145, {{ISBN|3-515-02842-0}}</ref> or the [[yin and yang]] of the [[Tao]].

=== Philosophical models ===
{{Further|Cosmology}}
{{See also|Pre-Socratic philosophy|Physics (Aristotle)|Hindu cosmology|Islamic cosmology|Philosophy of space and time}}
The [[pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic Greek philosophers]] and Indian philosophers developed some of the earliest philosophical concepts of the universe.<ref name=Routledge /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Unfinished Universe|page=21|publisher=Oxford University Press|first=Louise B.|last=Young |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-195-08039-1 |oclc=26399171}}</ref> The earliest Greek philosophers noted that appearances can be deceiving, and sought to understand the underlying reality behind the appearances. In particular, they noted the ability of matter to change forms (e.g., ice to water to steam) and several philosophers proposed that all the physical materials in the world are different forms of a single primordial material, or ''[[arche]]''. The first to do so was [[Thales]], who proposed this material to be [[Water (classical element)|water]]. Thales' student, [[Anaximander]], proposed that everything came from the limitless ''[[Apeiron (cosmology)|apeiron]]''. [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] proposed the primordial material to be [[Air (classical element)|air]] on account of its perceived attractive and repulsive qualities that cause the ''arche'' to condense or dissociate into different forms. [[Anaxagoras]] proposed the principle of ''[[Nous]]'' (Mind), while [[Heraclitus]] proposed [[fire (classical element)|fire]] (and spoke of ''[[logos]]''). [[Empedocles]] proposed the elements to be earth, water, air and fire. His four-element model became very popular. Like [[Pythagoras]], [[Plato]] believed that all things were composed of [[number]], with Empedocles' elements taking the form of the [[Platonic solids]]. [[Democritus]], and later philosophers—most notably [[Leucippus]]—proposed that the universe is composed of indivisible [[atom]]s moving through a [[void (astronomy)|void]] ([[vacuum]]), although [[Aristotle]] did not believe that to be feasible because air, like water, offers [[Drag (physics)|resistance to motion]]. Air will immediately rush in to fill a void, and moreover, without resistance, it would do so indefinitely fast.<ref name=Routledge />

Although Heraclitus argued for eternal change,<ref>{{cite SEP|url-id=heraclitus |title=Heraclitus |date=2019-09-03 |last=Graham |first=Daniel W.}}</ref> his contemporary [[Parmenides]] emphasized changelessness. Parmenides' poem ''On Nature'' has been read as saying that all change is an illusion, that the true underlying reality is eternally unchanging and of a single nature, or at least that the essential feature of each thing that exists must exist eternally, without origin, change, or end.<ref>{{cite SEP|url-id=parmenides |title=Parmenides |date=2020-10-19 |first=John |last=Palmer}}</ref> His student [[Zeno of Elea]] challenged everyday ideas about motion with several famous [[Zeno's paradoxes|paradoxes]]. Aristotle responded to these paradoxes by developing the notion of a potential countable infinity, as well as the infinitely divisible continuum.<ref>{{cite SEP|url-id=zeno-elea |title=Zeno of Elea |date=2021-04-08 |first=John |last=Palmer}}</ref><ref>{{cite IEP|url-id=zenos-paradoxes |title=Zeno's Paradoxes |first=Bradley |last=Dowden}}</ref> Unlike the eternal and unchanging cycles of time, he believed that the world is bounded by the celestial spheres and that cumulative stellar magnitude is only finitely multiplicative.

The [[Indian philosophy|Indian philosopher]] [[Kanada (philosopher)|Kanada]], founder of the [[Vaisheshika]] school, developed a notion of [[atomism]] and proposed that [[light]] and [[heat]] were varieties of the same substance.<ref>[[Will Durant]], ''Our Oriental Heritage'': {{blockquote|"Two systems of Hindu thought propound physical theories suggestively similar to those of [[Ancient Greece|Greece]]. Kanada, founder of the Vaisheshika philosophy, held that the world is composed of atoms as many in kind as the various elements. The [[Jainism|Jains]] more nearly approximated to [[Democritus]] by teaching that all atoms were of the same kind, producing different effects by diverse modes of combinations. Kanada believed light and heat to be varieties of the same substance; [[Udayana]] taught that all heat comes from the Sun; and [[Vācaspati Miśra|Vachaspati]], like [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], interpreted light as composed of minute particles emitted by substances and striking the eye."}}</ref> In the 5th century AD, the [[Buddhist atomism|Buddhist atomist]] philosopher [[Dignāga]] proposed [[atom]]s to be point-sized, durationless, and made of energy. They denied the existence of substantial matter and proposed that movement consisted of momentary flashes of a stream of energy.<ref>Stcherbatsky, F. Th. (1930, 1962), ''Buddhist Logic'', Volume 1, p. 19, Dover, New York: {{blockquote|"The Buddhists denied the existence of substantial matter altogether. Movement consists for them of moments, it is a staccato movement, momentary flashes of a stream of energy... "Everything is evanescent",... says the Buddhist, because there is no stuff... Both systems <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Samkhya|Sānkhya]], and later Indian Buddhism<nowiki>]</nowiki> share in common a tendency to push the analysis of existence up to its minutest, last elements which are imagined as absolute qualities, or things possessing only one unique quality. They are called "qualities" (''guna-dharma'') in both systems in the sense of absolute qualities, a kind of atomic, or intra-atomic, energies of which the empirical things are composed. Both systems, therefore, agree in denying the objective reality of the categories of Substance and Quality,... and of the relation of Inference uniting them. There is in Sānkhya philosophy no separate existence of qualities. What we call quality is but a particular manifestation of a subtle entity. To every new unit of quality corresponds a subtle quantum of matter which is called ''guna'', "quality", but represents a subtle substantive entity. The same applies to early Buddhism where all qualities are substantive... or, more precisely, dynamic entities, although they are also called ''dharmas'' ('qualities')."}}</ref>

The notion of [[temporal finitism]] was inspired by the doctrine of creation shared by the three [[Abrahamic religions]]: [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]. The [[Christian philosophy|Christian philosopher]], [[John Philoponus]], presented the philosophical arguments against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past and future. Philoponus' arguments against an infinite past were used by the [[Early Islamic philosophy|early Muslim philosopher]], [[Al-Kindi]] (Alkindus); the [[Jewish philosophy|Jewish philosopher]], [[Saadia Gaon]] (Saadia ben Joseph); and the [[Kalam|Muslim theologian]], [[Al-Ghazali]] (Algazel).<ref name="Viney1985">{{cite book |author=Viney |first=Donald Wayne |title=Charles Hartshorne and the Existence of God |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-87395-907-0 |pages=65–68 |chapter=The Cosmological Argument}}</ref>

[[Pantheism]] is the [[Philosophy|philosophical]] [[Religion|religious]] belief that the universe itself is identical to [[divinity]] and a [[Deity|supreme being]] or entity.<ref name="Pearsall">{{cite book |last1=Pearsall |first1=Judy |title=The New Oxford Dictionary Of English |date=1998 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-861263-6 |edition=1st |location=Oxford |page=1341}}</ref> The physical universe is thus understood as an all-encompassing, [[Immanence|immanent]] deity.<ref name="Edwards">{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofph08edwa |title=Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=1967 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofph08edwa/page/34 34] |url-access=registration}}</ref> The term 'pantheist' designates one who holds both that everything constitutes a unity and that this unity is divine, consisting of an all-encompassing, manifested [[God (male deity)|god]] or [[goddess]].<ref name="Edwards2">{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed. Paul Edwards |publisher=Macmillan and Free Press |year=1967 |location=New York |page=34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Reid-Bowen |first=Paul |title=Goddess as Nature: Towards a Philosophical Thealogy |date=April 15, 2016 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=9781317126348 |page=70}}</ref> Pantheistic concepts date back thousands of years, and pantheistic elements have been identified in various religious traditions.

=== Astronomical concepts ===
{{Main|History of astronomy|Timeline of astronomy}}
[[File:Aristarchus working.jpg|thumb|right|3rd century BCE calculations by [[Aristarchus of Samos|Aristarchus]] on the relative sizes of, from left to right, the Sun, Earth, and Moon, from a 10th-century AD Greek copy]]

The earliest written records of identifiable [[history of astronomy|predecessors to modern astronomy]] come from [[Ancient Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] from around 3000 to 1200 [[Common Era|BCE]].<ref name=Lindberg2007a>{{Cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |title=The beginnings of Western science: the European Scientific tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780226482057 |edition=2nd |page=12}}</ref><ref name="Grant2007a">{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |title=A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-68957-1 |edition=|location=New York |pages=1–26 |chapter=Ancient Egypt to Plato |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran/page/n16 |chapter-url-access=limited}}</ref> [[Babylonian astronomy|Babylonian astronomers]] of the 7th century BCE viewed the world as a [[Flat Earth|flat disk]] surrounded by the ocean,<ref>{{cite journal|first=Wayne |last=Horowitz |journal=Iraq |year=1988 |title=The Babylonian Map of the World |volume=50 |pages=147–165 |doi=10.2307/4200289 |jstor=4200289|s2cid=190703581 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Keel |first1=Othmar |title=The Symbolism of the Biblical World |year=1997 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-575-06014-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fy4B1iMg33YC |pages=20–22}}</ref> and this forms the premise for early Greek maps like those of [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus]].

Later [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] philosophers, observing the motions of the heavenly bodies, were concerned with developing models of the universe based more profoundly on [[empirical evidence]]. The first coherent model was proposed by [[Eudoxus of Cnidos]], a student of Plato who followed Plato's idea that heavenly motions had to be circular. In order to account for the known complications of the planets' motions, particularly [[Retrograde and prograde motion|retrograde movement]], Eudoxus' model included 27 different [[celestial spheres]]: four for each of the planets visible to the naked eye, three each for the Sun and the Moon, and one for the stars. All of these spheres were centered on the Earth, which remained motionless while they rotated eternally. Aristotle elaborated upon this model, increasing the number of spheres to 55 in order to account for further details of planetary motion. For Aristotle, normal [[classical elements|matter]] was entirely contained within the terrestrial sphere, and it obeyed fundamentally different rules from [[Aether (classical element)|heavenly material]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Larry |date=August 1973 |title=The astronomy of Eudoxus: Geometry or physics? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0039368173900022 |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=165–172 |doi=10.1016/0039-3681(73)90002-2|bibcode=1973SHPSA...4..165W }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Dicati |first=Renato |title=The Ancients' Astronomy |date=2013 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-88-470-2829-6_2 |work=Stamping Through Astronomy |pages=19–55 |place=Milano |publisher=Springer Milan |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-88-470-2829-6_2 |isbn=978-88-470-2828-9 |access-date=2023-02-27}}</ref>

The post-Aristotle treatise ''[[De Mundo]]'' (of uncertain authorship and date) stated, "Five elements, situated in spheres in five regions, the less being in each case surrounded by the greater—namely, earth surrounded by water, water by air, air by fire, and fire by ether—make up the whole universe".<ref name=1908DeMundo>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/demundoarisrich |title=De Mundo |year=1914 |author=Aristotle |author2=Forster, E. S. |author3=Dobson, J. F. |page=[https://archive.org/details/demundoarisrich/page/2 2] |location=Oxford |publisher=The Clarendon Press}}</ref>

This model was also refined by [[Callippus]] and after concentric spheres were abandoned, it was brought into nearly perfect agreement with astronomical observations by [[Ptolemy]].<ref name="almagest">{{cite journal |last=Goldstein |first=Bernard R. |date=1997 |title=Saving the phenomena: the background to Ptolemy's planetary theory |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |bibcode=1997JHA....28....1G |doi=10.1177/002182869702800101 |s2cid=118875902}}</ref> The success of such a model is largely due to the mathematical fact that any function (such as the position of a planet) can be decomposed into a set of circular functions (the [[Fourier series|Fourier modes]]). Other Greek scientists, such as the [[Pythagoreans|Pythagorean]] philosopher [[Philolaus]], postulated (according to [[Stobaeus]]' account) that at the center of the universe was a "central fire" around which the [[Earth]], [[Sun]], [[Moon]] and [[planet]]s revolved in uniform circular motion.<ref>Boyer, C. (1968) [https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfMathematics ''A History of Mathematics'']. Wiley, p. 54.</ref>

The [[Greek astronomy|Greek astronomer]] [[Aristarchus of Samos]] was the first known individual to propose a [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric]] model of the universe. Though the original text has been lost, a reference in [[Archimedes]]' book ''[[The Sand Reckoner]]'' describes Aristarchus's heliocentric model. Archimedes wrote:

<blockquote>You, King Gelon, are aware the universe is the name given by most astronomers to the sphere the center of which is the center of the Earth, while its radius is equal to the straight line between the center of the Sun and the center of the Earth. This is the common account as you have heard from astronomers. But Aristarchus has brought out a book consisting of certain hypotheses, wherein it appears, as a consequence of the assumptions made, that the universe is many times greater than the universe just mentioned. His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the Sun remain unmoved, that the Earth revolves about the Sun on the circumference of a circle, the Sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of fixed stars, situated about the same center as the Sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the Earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the center of the sphere bears to its surface.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heath |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZmHAAAAQBAJ |title=Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus: A History of Greek Astronomy to Aristarchus, Together with Aristarchus's Treatise on the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-06233-6 |pages=302 |language=en |author-link=Thomas Heath (classicist)}}</ref></blockquote>

Aristarchus thus believed the stars to be very far away, and saw this as the reason why [[stellar parallax]] had not been observed, that is, the stars had not been observed to move relative each other as the Earth moved around the Sun. The stars are in fact much farther away than the distance that was generally assumed in ancient times, which is why stellar parallax is only detectable with precision instruments. The geocentric model, consistent with planetary parallax, was assumed to be the explanation for the unobservability of stellar parallax.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kolkata |first=James J. |url=http://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-1-6817-4100-0 |title=Elementary Cosmology: From Aristotle's Universe to the Big Bang and Beyond |date=2015 |publisher=IOP Publishing |isbn=978-1-68174-100-0 |doi=10.1088/978-1-6817-4100-0ch4}}</ref>

[[File:Flammarion.jpg|thumb|right|[[Flammarion engraving]], Paris 1888]]

The only other astronomer from antiquity known by name who supported Aristarchus's heliocentric model was [[Seleucus of Seleucia]], a [[Hellenistic astronomer]] who lived a century after Aristarchus.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Otto E. Neugebauer|author=Neugebauer, Otto E. |date=1945|title=The History of Ancient Astronomy Problems and Methods|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|volume=4|issue=1|pages= 166–173|quote=the [[Chaldaea]]n Seleucus from Seleucia|jstor=595168|doi=10.1086/370729|s2cid=162347339 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Sarton |first=George |author-link=George Sarton |date=1955 |title=Chaldaean Astronomy of the Last Three Centuries B. C. |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=166–173 [169] |doi=10.2307/595168 |jstor=595168 |quote=the heliocentrical astronomy invented by Aristarchos of Samos and still defended a century later by Seleucos the [[Babylonia]]n}}</ref><ref>William P. D. Wightman (1951, 1953), ''The Growth of Scientific Ideas'', Yale University Press. p. 38, where Wightman calls him [[Seleucus of Seleucia|Seleukos]] the [[Chaldea]]n.</ref> According to Plutarch, Seleucus was the first to prove the heliocentric system through [[reasoning]], but it is not known what arguments he used. Seleucus' arguments for a heliocentric cosmology were probably related to the phenomenon of [[tide]]s.<ref>[[Lucio Russo]], ''Flussi e riflussi'', Feltrinelli, Milano, Italy, 2003, {{ISBN|88-07-10349-4}}.</ref> According to [[Strabo]] (1.1.9), Seleucus was the first to state that the tides are due to the attraction of the Moon, and that the height of the tides depends on the Moon's position relative to the Sun.<ref>{{harvtxt|Bartel|1987|loc=p. 527}}</ref> Alternatively, he may have proved heliocentricity by determining the constants of a [[Geometry|geometric]] model for it, and by developing methods to compute planetary positions using this model, similar to [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{harvtxt|Bartel|1987|loc=pp. 527–529}}</ref> During the [[Middle Ages]], [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric]] models were also proposed by the [[Islamic astronomy|Persian astronomers]] [[Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi|Albumasar]]<ref>{{harvtxt|Bartel|1987 |loc=pp. 534–537}}</ref> and [[Al-Sijzi]].<ref name=Nasr>{{Cite book |last=Nasr |first=Seyyed H. |author-link=Hossein Nasr |orig-year=1964 |date=1993 |title=An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines |edition=2nd |publisher=1st edition by [[Harvard University Press]], 2nd edition by [[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=978-0-7914-1515-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00nasr/page/135 135–136] |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00nasr/page/135 }}</ref>

[[File:ThomasDiggesmap.JPG|thumb|left|[[Copernican heliocentrism|Model of the Copernican Universe]] by [[Thomas Digges]] in 1576, with the amendment that the stars are no longer confined to a sphere, but spread uniformly throughout the space surrounding the [[planet]]s]]

The Aristotelian model was accepted in the [[Western world]] for roughly two millennia, until Copernicus revived Aristarchus's perspective that the astronomical data could be explained more plausibly if the [[Earth]] rotated on its axis and if the [[Sun]] were placed at the center of the universe.<ref name="TMU">{{Cite book |last1=Frautschi |first1=Steven C. |title=The Mechanical Universe: Mechanics and Heat |title-link=The Mechanical Universe |last2=Olenick |first2=Richard P. |last3=Apostol |first3=Tom M. |last4=Goodstein |first4=David L. |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-71590-4 |edition=Advanced |location=Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] |page=58 |oclc=227002144 |author-link=Steven Frautschi |author-link3=Tom M. Apostol |author-link4=David L. Goodstein}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In the center rests the Sun. For who would place this lamp of a very beautiful temple in another or better place than this wherefrom it can illuminate everything at the same time?|Nicolaus Copernicus|in Chapter 10, Book 1 of ''De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestrum'' (1543)}}

As noted by Copernicus, the notion that the [[Earth's rotation|Earth rotates]] is very old, dating at least to [[Philolaus]] ({{Circa|450 BC}}), [[Heraclides Ponticus]] ({{Circa|350 BC}}) and [[Ecphantus the Pythagorean]]. Roughly a century before Copernicus, the Christian scholar [[Nicholas of Cusa]] also proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis in his book, ''On Learned Ignorance'' (1440).<ref>[[#Misner|Misner, Thorne and Wheeler]], p. 754.</ref> Al-Sijzi<ref>{{cite book|title=Science in the Quran|volume=1|publisher=Malik Library|first=Ema Ākabara|last=Ālī|page=218}}</ref> also proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis. [[Empirical research|Empirical evidence]] for the Earth's rotation on its axis, using the phenomenon of [[comet]]s, was given by [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī|Tusi]] (1201–1274) and [[Ali Qushji]] (1403–1474).<ref>{{Citation |last=Ragep |first=F. Jamil |year=2001 |title=Tusi and Copernicus: The Earth's Motion in Context |journal=Science in Context |volume=14 |issue=1–2 |pages=145–163 |doi=10.1017/s0269889701000060 |s2cid=145372613 }}</ref>

This cosmology was accepted by [[Isaac Newton]], [[Christiaan Huygens]] and later scientists.<ref name="Misner-p755">[[#Misner|Misner, Thorne and Wheeler]], pp. 755–756.</ref> Newton demonstrated that the same [[Newton's laws of motion|laws of motion]] and gravity apply to earthly and to celestial matter, making Aristotle's division between the two obsolete. [[Edmund Halley]] (1720)<ref name=m756>[[#Misner|Misner, Thorne and Wheeler]], p. 756.</ref> and [[Jean-Philippe de Chéseaux]] (1744)<ref>{{cite book |author=de Cheseaux JPL |title=Traité de la Comète |date=1744 |publisher=Lausanne |pages=223ff |author-link=Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux}}. Reprinted as Appendix II in {{cite book |author=Dickson |first=F. P. |title=The Bowl of Night: The Physical Universe and Scientific Thought |date=1969 |publisher=M.I.T. Press |isbn=978-0-262-54003-2 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |language=en-us}}</ref> noted independently that the assumption of an infinite space filled uniformly with stars would lead to the prediction that the nighttime sky would be as bright as the Sun itself; this became known as [[Olbers' paradox]] in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Olbers HWM |author-link=Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers |date=1826 |title=Unknown title |journal=Bode's Jahrbuch |volume=111}}. Reprinted as Appendix I in {{cite book |author=Dickson |first=F. P. |title=The Bowl of Night: The Physical Universe and Scientific Thought |date=1969 |publisher=M.I.T. Press |isbn=978-0-262-54003-2 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |language=en-us}}</ref> Newton believed that an infinite space uniformly filled with matter would cause infinite forces and instabilities causing the matter to be crushed inwards under its own gravity.<ref name="Misner-p755" /> This instability was clarified in 1902 by the [[Jeans instability]] criterion.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jeans |first1=J. H. |date=1902 |title=The Stability of a Spherical Nebula |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A]] |volume=199 |pages=1–53 |issue=312–320 |doi=10.1098/rsta.1902.0012 |bibcode=1902RSPTA.199....1J |jstor=90845 |doi-access= }}</ref> One solution to these paradoxes is the [[Carl Charlier|Charlier]] universe, in which the matter is arranged hierarchically (systems of orbiting bodies that are themselves orbiting in a larger system, ''ad infinitum'') in a [[fractal]] way such that the universe has a negligibly small overall density; such a cosmological model had also been proposed earlier in 1761 by [[Johann Heinrich Lambert]].<ref name=r196 /><ref>[[#Misner|Misner, Thorne and Wheeler]], p. 757.</ref>

During the 18th century, [[Immanuel Kant]] speculated that [[nebula]]e could be entire galaxies separate from the Milky Way,<ref name="m756" /> and in 1850, [[Alexander von Humboldt]] called these separate galaxies ''Weltinseln'', or "world islands", a term that later developed into "island universes".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Kenneth Glyn |date=February 1971 |title=The Observational Basis for Kant's Cosmogony: A Critical Analysis |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002182867100200104 |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=29–34 |doi=10.1177/002182867100200104 |bibcode=1971JHA.....2...29J |s2cid=126269712 |issn=0021-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Robert W. |date=February 2008 |title=Beyond the Galaxy: The Development of Extragalactic Astronomy 1885–1965, Part 1 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002182860803900106 |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=91–119 |doi=10.1177/002182860803900106 |bibcode=2008JHA....39...91S |s2cid=117430789 |issn=0021-8286}}</ref> In 1919, when the [[Hooker Telescope]] was completed, the prevailing view was that the universe consisted entirely of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using the Hooker Telescope, [[Edwin Hubble]] identified [[Cepheid variable]]s in several spiral nebulae and in 1922–1923 proved conclusively that [[Andromeda Galaxy|Andromeda Nebula]] and [[Triangulum Nebula|Triangulum]] among others, were entire galaxies outside our own, thus proving that the universe consists of a multitude of galaxies.<ref name="SharovNovikov1993">{{cite book|last1=Sharov|first1=Aleksandr Sergeevich|last2=Novikov|first2=Igor Dmitrievich|title=Edwin Hubble, the discoverer of the big bang universe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttEwkEdPc70C&pg=PA34|access-date=December 31, 2011|date=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-41617-7|page=34|archive-date=June 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623075250/http://books.google.com/books?id=ttEwkEdPc70C&pg=PA34|url-status=live}}</ref>

The modern era of [[physical cosmology]] began in 1917, when [[Albert Einstein]] first applied his [[general theory of relativity]] to model the structure and dynamics of the universe.<ref name="einstein_1917">{{cite journal |last=Einstein |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Einstein |date=1917 |title=Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie |journal=Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte |series=1917 |volume=(part 1) |pages=142–152}}</ref> The discoveries of this era, and the questions that remain unanswered, are outlined in the sections above.

{{wide image|Observable Universe Logarithmic Map (horizontal layout english annotations).png|2250px|Map of the observable universe with some of the notable astronomical objects known as of 2018. The scale of length increases exponentially toward the right. Celestial bodies are shown enlarged in size to be able to understand their shapes.}}
{{multiple image
 | align             = center
 | direction         = horizontal
 | background color  =
 | width             =
 | caption_align     = center
 | header_background =
 | header_align      = center
 | header            = Location of the Earth in the universe
 | image1            = The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg
 | width1            = 82
 | caption1          = [[Earth]]
 | image2            = Solar System true color.jpg
 | width2            = 146
 | caption2          = [[Solar&nbsp;System]]
 | image3            = RadcliffeWave1.png
 | width3            = 146
 | caption3          = [[Radcliffe Wave]]
 | image4            = Milky Way Arms ssc2008-10.svg
 | width4            = 93
 | caption4          = [[Orion Arm]]
 | image5            = Artist's impression of the Milky Way (updated - annotated).jpg
 | width5            = 83
 | caption5          = [[Milky&nbsp;Way]]
 | image6            = Local Group and nearest galaxies.jpg
 | width6            = 111
 | caption6          = [[Local Group|Local&nbsp;Group]]
 | image7            = Local supercluster-ly.jpg
 | width7            = 86
 | caption7          = [[Virgo Supercluster|Virgo SCl]]
 | image8            = Observable universe r2.jpg
 | width8            = 83
 | caption8          = [[Laniakea Supercluster|Laniakea SCl]]
 | image9            = Observable Universe with Measurements 01.png
 | width9            = 83
 | caption9          = [[Observable universe|Our&nbsp;Universe]]
 | footer_background =
 | footer_align      = center
 | footer            =
}}

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Cosmic Calendar]] (scaled down timeline)
* [[Cosmic latte]]
* [[Detailed logarithmic timeline]]
* [[Earth's location in the universe]]
* [[False vacuum]]
* [[Future of an expanding universe]]
* [[Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey]]
* [[Heat death of the universe]]
* [[History of the center of the Universe]]
* [[Illustris project]]
* [[Non-standard cosmology]]
* [[Nucleocosmochronology]]
* [[Parallel universe (fiction)]]
* [[Rare Earth hypothesis]]
* [[Space and survival]]
* [[Terasecond and longer]]
* [[Timeline of the early universe]]
* [[Timeline of the far future]]
* [[Timeline of the near future]]
* [[Zero-energy universe]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
'''Footnotes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite journal|last=Bartel |first=Leendert van der Waerden |author-link=Bartel Leendert van der Waerden|date=1987|title=The Heliocentric System in Greek, Persian and Hindu Astronomy|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37224.x|bibcode=1987NYASA.500..525V|journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=500|issue=1 |pages=525–545 |s2cid=222087224 }}
* {{cite book|date=1975|title=The Classical Theory of Fields (Course of Theoretical Physics)|volume=2 |edition=4th |publisher=Pergamon Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-08-018176-9|pages=358–397|name-list-style=vanc|last1=Landau|first1=Lev|last2=Lifshitz|first2=E.M.|author-link1=Lev Landau|author-link2=Evgeny Lifshitz |title-link=Course of Theoretical Physics}}
* {{cite book|last1=Liddell |first1=H. G.|last2=Scott |first2=R.|name-list-style=amp |title=A Greek-English Lexicon|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-864214-5 |date=1968 }}
* {{cite book|title=Gravitation|location=San Francisco|publisher=W. H. Freeman|date=1973|isbn=978-0-7167-0344-0|pages=703–816|author1=Misner|author2=C.W.|author3=Thorne|author4=Kip|author5=Wheeler|author6=J.A.|author-link1=Charles W. Misner|author-link3=Kip Thorne|author-link5=John Archibald Wheeler|title-link=Gravitation (book)}}
* {{cite book |title=An Introduction to the Science of Cosmology |first1=D. J. |last1=Raine |first2=E. G. |last2=Thomas |year=2001 |publisher=Institute of Physics Publishing }}
* {{cite book|author=Rindler, W.|date=1977|title=Essential Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological|publisher=Springer Verlag|location=New York|isbn=978-0-387-10090-6|pages=193–244|author-link=Wolfgang Rindler}}
* {{cite book |edition=2nd |editor-first=Martin |editor-last=Rees |date=2012 |title=Smithsonian Universe |location=London |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0-7566-9841-6}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=June 13, 2012|WIKIPEDIA SPOKEN ARTICLE - Universe (Part 1).oga|WIKIPEDIA SPOKEN ARTICLE - Universe (Part 2).oga|WIKPEDIA SPOKEN ARTICLE - Universe (Part 3).ogg|WIKIPEDIA SPOKEN ARTICLE - Universe (Part 4).oga}}
* [http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/ NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)] / ([http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/Library/Distances/ NED-Distances]).
* [https://www.livescience.com/how-many-atoms-in-universe.html There are about 10<sup>82</sup> atoms in the observable universe] – ''[[LiveScience]]'', July 2021.
* [https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/05/21/this-is-why-we-will-never-know-everything-about-our-universe/ ''This is why we will never know everything about our universe''] – ''[[Forbes]]'', May 2019.

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