help

Where is the Center of the Big Bang?

-- | August 8, 2015

Question: My understanding is that the COBE experiments back in the late 80s/early 90s were successful in detecting what we generally believe to be the CMB leftover from the big bang.

In reading about the experiment I haven’t had much luck finding an answer about if COBE (or some other experiment) has been able to estimate a vector, or general location, for the big bang itself. Do we have any data that allows us to extrapolate where, geographically in the universe, the big bang might have been? Would this be a safe/fair location to consider the “center of the universe” if it were known? — Tim

Answer: In fact, there is no “center” to the Big Bang. The Big Bang was not an explosion which radiated from a point but rather an expansion of all points from all other points in the Universe. One of the best pictorial descriptions of this fact can be found on Ed Wright’s Big Bang “nocenter” page. This is part of the “cosmological principle, which states that all positions in the universe are equivalent, and that the universe is homogeneous.

Jeff Mangum

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
	The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..."
	AUI collaborates with the scientific community and research sponsors to plan, build, and operate cutting-edge facilities. We cultivate excellence, deliver value, enhance education, and engage the public.