Can you list 10 or more observational facts supporting Big Bang Theory?

Sure!

1.... The universe is expanding.

2.... There exists a cosmic background radiation field detectable at microwave frequencies.

3.... The cosmic microwave background field is measurably isotropic to better than a few parts in 100,000 after compensation is made for the relativistic Doppler effect caused by Earth/Sun/Milky Way motion.

4.... The cosmic microwave background radiation field is precisely that of a black body.

5.... The cosmic microwave background radiation field has a temperature of 2.7 K.

6.... There does exist a universal abundance ratio of helium to hydrogen consistent with the current expansion rate and cosmic background temperature.

7.... The cosmological abundance of deuterium relative to hydrogen and helium is consistent with the levels expected given the current expansion rate and density.

8.... There are only three families of neutrinos.

9.... The night sky is not as bright as the surface of the Sun.

10... The cosmic background radiation field is slightly lumpy at a level of one part in 100,000 to 1,000,000.

11... There are no objects that have ages indisputably greater than the expansion age of the universe.

12... There are about 10,000,000,000 photons in the cosmic background radiation field for every proton and neutron of matter.

13... The degree of galaxy clustering observed is consistent with an expanding universe with a finite age less than 20 billion years.

14... There are no elements heavier than lithium which have a universal abundance ratio.

15... The universe was once opaque to its own radiation.

16... The universe is now dominated exclusively by matter and not a mixture of matter and anti-matter.

I should point out that, although some rival theories have proposed alternate explanations to a few of these observations, there are no rivals that provide a simple explanation for all of these remarkable observations. What could be simpler than a universe expanding from a hot, dense state to the present cool, rarified one with all of the above features emerging! No new physics is required, no mysterious forces, just gravity and hot matter doing their thing over billions of years!


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.