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Astronomy & Space vocabulary · Cosmology

Big Bang

Meaning in astronomy & space, with examples

/ˌbɪɡ ˈbæŋ/nounCore term

In astronomy & space, Big Bang means: The scientific model in which the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago in an extremely hot, dense state and has been expanding and cooling ever since.

In Turkish: Büyük Patlama

How it is used

Usually 'the Big Bang' or 'the Big Bang theory'. Scientists talk about the first seconds after the Big Bang and the evidence for it, such as the cosmic microwave background and the redshift of distant galaxies.

Example sentences

  1. Hydrogen and helium nuclei formed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang.

  2. The Big Bang theory explains why distant galaxies are moving away from us.

Common collocations

  • the Big Bang theory
  • after the Big Bang
  • evidence for the Big Bang
  • the hot Big Bang
  • universeAll of space and time and everything in it: matter, energy, planets, stars and galaxies. Its observable part is about 93 billion light-years across.
  • cosmic microwave backgroundThe faint microwave radiation that fills the whole sky, left over from about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. It is often shortened to CMB.
  • redshiftThe stretching of light from an object that is moving away from us or whose light crosses expanding space, so that its spectral lines shift to longer, redder wavelengths.
  • dark energyThe unknown cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe. It makes up about two thirds of the total energy content of the universe.

More terms: Cosmology

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