The Size and Fate of the Universe

   In 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies around ours were rushing away, with the most distant ones moving the fastest.  This implied that the Universe itself is expanding, but one key question of cosmology, of interested to both astronomers and the general public remains unanswered:  will this expansion continue forever, or will the self-gravity of the matter in the Universe cause the expansion to eventually stop and reverse to a collapse.  Recent observations are taking this field in a surprising direction.

News Articles

A New Look at the Age of the Universe -- The X-ray satellite Chandra will target universe's age (Feb. 1999) New Findings Help Balance the Cosmological Books -- (NY Times, Feb 1999); (you need to register to use the site first, it's really easy) Hubble Captures Images from 12 Billion Years Ago -- HST Deep Field South (CNN, Nov. 1998) Hubble Telescope Finds Most Distant Galaxies Ever Detected -- (CNN, Oct. 1998) Supercomputer to Probe Deepest Questions of Existence -- (CNN, May 1998) Scientists Stunned to Learn Universe May be Accelerating -- (CNN, Feb 1998) Astronomers Claim the Universe has an Innate Direction -- This find, which contradicts the basic cosmological theory that the universe should have no preferred direction of observation, was later disproven. (Sci. Amer, May 1997) Physicists Describe Grim End of the World -- (CNN, Jan 1997)

Other Sites

Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial-- (UCLA professor) Microwave Anisotropy Probe -- mission goals include exploration of galaxy formation and detailed study of the cosmic microwavr background radiation Introduction to Cosmology -- M.A.P.'s general cosmology web site Cosmic Microwave Background -- the relic radiation from the Big Bang Cosmology: A Research Briefing -- the very early universe Creation of a Cosmology: Big Bang Theory An Intro to Inflation -- includes some historical perspective Beyond the Big Bang -- Inflation and other theories A New Big Bang-- Gene Nutting applies relativity to the Big Bang Cosmos in a Computer Grand Challenge Cosmology Consortium Hot Big Bang -- the hot big bang model NASA's Origins Program Tufts Institute of Cosmology NASA/Fermilab Theoretical Astrophysics Group SteadyState Galaxies - An Alternative to the Big Bang Philosophy of the Big Bang -- Ever wonder what's 'outside' the universe? The Theory of Nothing