ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

Any explanation of the origin of the Universe should be consistent with all information about
its composition, structure, accelerating expansion, cosmic microwave background radiation
among others.

 The universe as we currently know it comprises all space and time, and all matter and
energy in it.

 It is made of 4.6% baryonic matter (“ordinary” matter consisting of protons, electrons,

and neutrons: atoms, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other bodies), 24% cold
dark matter (matter that has gravity but does not emit light), and 71.4% dark energy (a
source of anti-gravity)

 Dark matter can explain what may be holding galaxies together for the reason that the
low total mass is insufficient for gravity alone to do so while dark energy can explain
the observed accelerating expansion of the universe.

 Hydrogen, helium, and lithium are the three most abundant elements.

 Stars - the building block of galaxies-are born out of clouds of gas and dust in
galaxies. Instabilities within the clouds eventually results into gravitational collapse,
rotation, heating up, and transformation into a protostar-the hot core of a future star as
thermonuclear reactions set in.

 The remaining dust and gas may end up as they are or as planets, asteroids, or other
bodies in the accompanying planetary system.

 A galaxy is a cluster of billions of stars and clusters of galaxies form superclusters. In

between the clusters is practically an empty space. This organization of matter in the
universe suggests that it is indeed clumpy at a certain scale.

 The universe contains many different objects. However, these objects are not just
scattered around the universe. They are grouped into systems. Every object in the
universe is part of a larger system: Earth is part of the planetary system called the solar
system. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is part

 the so-called Local Group of galaxies, which in turn is part of the Virgo supercluster
of galaxies.

 Based on recent data, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. The diameter of the
universe is possibly infinite but should be at least 91 billion light-years (1 light-year =
9.4607 × 1012 km). Its density is 4.5 x 10-31 g/cm3.