Thanks to the wonders of physics, astronomers can map a timeline of the universe’s history. Today, Phil’s going to give you an overview of those first few minutes (yes, MINUTES) of the universe’s life. It started with the Big Bang when the Universe was incredibly dense and hot. It expanded and cooled, going through multiple stages where different kinds of matter could form. It underwent a phenomenally rapid expansion called inflation, which smoothed out much of the lumpiness in the matter. Normal matter formed atoms between 3 and 20 minutes after the bang, and the lumps left over from inflation formed the galaxies and larger structures we see today.
Check out the Crash Course Astronomy solar system poster here: http://store.dftba.com/products/crashcourse-astronomy-poster
If you want to learn more about the creation and death of the universe, watch Crash Course Big History here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMczXZUmjb3mZSU1Roxnrey
—
Chapters:
Introduction: The History of the Universe 00:00
Giant Particle Colliders 1:22
Phase Changes 1:58
After the Big Bang: The First Minutes 4:29
Recombination 6:15
Inflation 8:36
Unanswered Questions in Astronomy 10:31
Review 11:22
—
PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios
Follow Phil on Twitter: https://twitter.com/badastronomer
Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/YouTubeCrashCourse
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/TheCrashCourse
Tumblr – http://thecrashcourse.tumblr.com
Support CrashCourse on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/crashcourse
—
PHOTOS/VIDEOS
Proton Collision Event with Boosters and LHC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhXMXiXOWAA [credit: ATLAS]
Melting Snowball video courtesy of Phil Plait
Big Bang to Hubble http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/hst15_big_bang_to_hubble/ [credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)]
Journey to the centre of the Sun http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/astro_ac/ [credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)]
PIA16873: Best Map Ever of the Universe http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16873 [credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration]
A high resolution foreground cleaned CMB map from WMAP http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/mapforegs.pdf [credit: Tegmark et al.]
Planck comb rbcol scaled http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/~spxcen/CMB_Sims/Planck_comb_rbcol_scaled.png [credit: Chris North, Cardiff University]
WMAP’s Portrait of the Early Universe http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=10123 [credit: NASA]
Watch Now
