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Recently, new results were released from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, launched in 2001 to measure the
temperature of radiant heat left over from the Big Bang, which is the
theoretical beginning to the universe. The new WMAP observations,
announced at a NASA press conference today, reveal what the universe was
like in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. From the
microwave background, researchers teased out a new signal called the
"polarization signal." According to the conclusions of this report, during
this growth spurt, a tiny region, likely no larger than a marble, grew in a
trillionth of a second to become larger than the visible universe. Well,
I'm confused. According to Einstein nothing can travel faster than the
speed of light. If that is true, how is it that the universe expanded from
the size of a marble to something large than the visible universe in a
trillionth of a second? I'm neither an astrophysicist nor a physicist,
which is why I'm asking this question here. And please be kind, as my
calculus is a little rusty these days. Any thoughts?
George
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