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If we can experience or see the beginning of the universe - i.e. see the Big Bang through devices - then can we perceive or see the most forward edges of the big bang racing outward?

BioPhysicist
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R. M.
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1 Answers1

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According to the chronology of the universe,

At about 370,000 years, the universe finally becomes cool enough for neutral atoms to form ("recombination"), and as a result it also became transparent for the first time. The newly formed atoms—mainly hydrogen and helium with traces of lithium—quickly reach their lowest energy state (ground state) by releasing photons ("photon decoupling"), and these photons can still be detected today as the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This is currently the oldest observation we have of the universe.

Before this point, the universe was opaque, and light could not travel very far. Therefore, nothing can be seen before the time the universe became transparent, and you cannot see the "forward edges of the big bang" (whatever that might mean). Light from the CMB is as far back as you can go.

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