Universe grew from pea-size to astronomical size in an instant: WMAP data

NASA's deep space probe has sent evidence of, what scientists believe, must have been the edge of time – the first instant after the Big Bang when the universe grew from a size smaller than a pea to astronomical dimensions. The tremendous expansion took place with a single burst of repulsive force and in less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, the agency's scientists said.

The robotic probe Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, launched in 2001, relayed data that supported the theory that the universe was 13.7 billion years old. It also provided new evidence that the universe grew from “submicroscopic size to astronomical size in less than the blink of an eye” according to Charles Bennett, who heads NASA's investigation team for the WMAP spacecraft and also works for John Hopkins University.

The WMAP probe sent images tracing the movement of the oldest lights of the universe. The spacecraft is equipped to trace and measure movements of the Big Bang's afterglow - the microwave background light. The scientists explained that radiation from the Big bang would have lingered in space and become much cooler than their initial intense temperatures, over the passing 13.7 billion years.

In 2003, the NASA team had published a detailed picture of the beginning of the universe with data sent by the WMAP. Over the past three years, the probe has been sending consistent data about the temperatures of the cosmic microwave background light. Based on this data, scientists said they had “the most precise measurements of our infant universe”.

The image they released is an ovaloid picture of the infant universe marked in spots and bars. The spots representing areas of the universe are colored either blue or red depending upon their temperatures and the white bars represent direction of the oldest lights. This data enables the scientists to determine where the first stars must have formed.

The entire image is based on tiny temperature variations – very faint microwaves actually, observed in the universe, as the scientists believe the infant universe was nothing but a tiny mass of energies and infinitesimal differences in temperatures. These tiny temperature differences eventually led to the formation of matter, including all the countless galaxies and stars.

The WMAP probe is now on the other side of the Sun roughly 1.6km away from Earth. It is expected to be operational for another four years.

Based on the probe's recent observations the scientists also revised their estimate of when the first stars began to shine, from the earlier stated 200 million years, to 400 million years after the Big Bang.

The probe's observations have upturned all previous hypothesis and theories about the beginnings of the universe but supported the Big Bang theory. The universe contains only 4 percent of identifiable matter, while 22 percent is “so-called dark matter” – neither made of atoms nor emitting/absorbing light. This dark matter is only detected by it gravity. The remaining 74 percent is an unknown “dark energy” that could probably be causing the universe to expand, scientists believe.

The WMAP team said the universe is currently on another growth spurt but fortunately this one is far “more gentle than the one 13.7 billion years ago”.

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