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Have you ever wondered how the universe began or where all the planets, stars, and other celestial objects came from? What else could be out there? Scientists have been trying to answer these and other questions like them since the beginning of mankind. No one knows the answers for sure, but many theories and myths have been created to help explain the answers to these questions. The most popular theory for the creation of the universe is known as the big bang theory, which proposes that everything in the universe was condensed into an incredibly small area at one point in time. Because this area was extremely hot, a powerful expansion of energy was created, which sent everything that was densely packed in the small area flying out in all directions. In the blink of an eye, this microscopic area expanded into something larger than the Milky Way galaxy. Within seconds, everything began to cool down, and the building blocks of the universe began to form as expansion continued. As millions of years went by, the universe’s temperature cooled enough to allow galaxies and stars to form. To this very day, the universe is still cooling and expanding. The big bang theory is not the only theory that tries to explain the creation of the universe; however, it is currently the most popular because of the amount of evidence that supports it. By studying the color of light that galaxies emit, scientists have discovered that other galaxies are traveling away from Earth. If light from a galaxy appears to be shifted toward the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, then this means it is traveling away from Earth. This supports the idea of a great expansion from the big bang. Another piece of evidence that supports the big bang was found in 1992 by the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, which precisely measured the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The temperature it found matched with the predictions astronomers had made from models, starting with a hot, big bang. This radiation is believed to be caused by the energy released during the first year of the big bang. Scientists have estimated that the universe was formed over 13 billion years ago. In 1995, scientists pointed the Hubble Space Telescope into an area of space that appeared to be empty. The images that were sent back to Earth were breathtaking, as thousands upon thousands of galaxies appeared in a space of about 0.5 mm over a period of 240 hours. Scientists predict that if the entire sky has this many galaxies in each little empty space, there could be over 50 billion galaxies in the universe. The farthest of these galaxies are over 13 billion light-years away, which supports the big bang theory by confirming the age of the universe for scientists. The universe’s creation is still a mystery to scientists, and the big bang is just one theory that tries to explain its origins. Exactly how big the universe is, or where it is expanding to, continues to fascinate scientists and nonscientists alike.