{"id":351561,"date":"2023-08-21T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/?p=351561"},"modified":"2023-08-21T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T12:00:00","slug":"new-test-reaffirms-big-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/creation\/universe\/new-test-reaffirms-big-bang","title":{"rendered":"New Test Reaffirms Big Bang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Perhaps you\u2019re familiar with Mark Twain\u2019s comment: \u201cThe report of my death was an exaggeration\u201d (New York Journal<\/em>, June 2, 1897). This correction was necessitated by a reporter\u2019s having confused Twain with his seriously ill cousin. How often have my fellow astronomers and I hoped for a similar correction with respect to the big bang! Reporters continue to confuse minor adjustments with the model\u2019s demise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To scoop the story of the big bang\u2019s having been overturned may be as tempting to journalists as announcing the death of a revered cultural icon, perhaps more so. The magnitude of what\u2019s at stake seems inestimable. Given what the big bang implies about the origin and unfolding of the universe\u2014and about the one ancient account that anticipated its discovery\u2014rigorous and repeated tests of its certainty do seem warranted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I speak, of course, about the biblical writers who described major features of the big bang thousands of years before scientists could have.1<\/sup> The advance of technology has allowed for increasingly potent tests of their unprecedented claims. Thus far, each new test\u2014including one of the latest described for you in this article\u2014further solidifies the certainty of their claim about a creation event.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time Dilation Test of the Big Bang<\/strong>
One of the most straightforward and direct substantiations of the big bang creation model is a phenomenon referred to as time dilation. The time dilation test is based on Einstein\u2019s special theory of relativity, founded on the one physics equation nearly everyone knows: E = mc2<\/sup> (in which E<\/em> is for energy, m<\/em> is for mass, and c<\/em> is for the constant velocity of light). This equation easily ranks as the most firmly established of all the equations in physics. Experiments confirm its veracity to better than twenty places of the decimal.2<\/sup>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a straightforward application of algebra to this equation, we can deduce that clocks moving at high velocities relative to Earth will advance more slowly in proportion to the speed at which they\u2019re traveling.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fundamental characteristic of all big bang models is that the universe began as an infinitesimally small volume and has continuously expanded from its origin event. This cosmic feature predicts that the more distant an object is from Earth, the more rapidly it will appear to be moving away from Earth. Thus, according to Einstein\u2019s theory, clocks in distant galaxies will advance at measurably slower rates than clocks on Earth or in our Milky Way Galaxy (MWG). By comparing\/contrasting clocks in distant galaxies to clocks in the MWG, we can directly observe the signature of cosmic expansion, a definitive test of big bang models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirmation from Three Cosmological \u201cClocks\u201d<\/strong>
Many objects in the universe behave as clocks. The best-known examples are the periods of eclipsing binary stars<\/a>, Cepheid variable stars<\/a>, galaxy rotation rates, and supernova eruptions. Eclipsing binary stars and Cepheid variable stars are too faint for astronomers to detect and measure in distant galaxies. Likewise, astronomers are able to make accurate measurements of galaxy rotation rates only in relatively nearby galaxies. However, astronomers do have the capacity to observe supernovae in galaxies as far away as 9 billion light-years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Supernovae<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Astronomers have observed several hundred supernova eruption events both in the MWG and in nearby galaxies. Figure 1 shows the light curve of a type Ia supernova eruption in a nearby galaxy. Each of the seven different types of supernovae manifests a distinct light curve over a specific time period.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 1: Light Curve for Nearby Type Ia Supernovae<\/strong>
    Credit: Hugh Ross<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Astronomers have observed that light from supernovae in galaxies billions of light-years away indeed takes extra time to brighten and then become dim, as indicated by their light curves seen from Earth. Based on the measured amount of extra time, we can determine that the cosmos has expanded to its present size from an infinitesimal volume over roughly 13.8 billion years.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Gamma-Ray Bursts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n