Lesson 1 Terms

WARLITO ZAMORA CANOY·MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019·

Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that involves the origin and evolution of the universe, from the Big
Bang to today and on into the future. According to NASA, the definition of cosmology is "the scientific
study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole."

The big bang is how astronomers explain the way the universe began. It is the idea that the universe
began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now (and it could
still be stretching).

Big-bang model, widely held theory of the evolution of the universe. Its essential feature is the
emergence of the universe from a state of extremely high temperature and density—the so-called big
bang that occurred 13.8 billion years ago.

A singularity means a point where some property is infinite. For example, at the center of a black hole,
according to classical theory, the density is infinite (because a finite mass is compressed to a zero
volume). Hence it is a singularity.

In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential
expansion of space in the early universe. ... Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to
expand, but the expansion was no longer accelerating.

Annihilation is defined as total destruction or obliteration of an object. In electron-positron annihilation,

the particle (electron) and its antimatter particle (positron) come together and are replaced by photons
(electromagnetic wave quanta with zero rest mass).

In cosmology, recombination refers to the epoch at which charged electrons and protons first became
bound to form electrically neutral hydrogen atoms. Recombination occurred about 379,000 years after
the Big Bang (at a redshift of z = 1100).

cosmological redshift means that light stretches as space expands. In fact, it stretches so much that by
the time we get to some distant galaxies, their visible and ultraviolet light has shifted to the infrared
spectrum.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), in Big Bang cosmology, is electromagnetic radiation as
a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic
background radiation filling all space. ... This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio
spectrum.