Before the Big Bang: Scientists find cosmic radiation older than the universe

by Steven Mostyn - Nov 29 2010, 10:23

Have you ever wondered if anything existed before the Big Bang created the rapidly expanding universe we now live in? Us too. While stargazing scientists can’t yet provide a concrete answer to that brain-frying question, they have at least found evidence of… well… something.

Specifically, examinations of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB)—or, if you prefer, echoes of the Big Bang—have revealed unusual concentric circles that scientists believe indicate events that happened before the universe was first formed.

Likely to whip up discussion and perhaps even a degree of controversy, the cosmic discovery was posted online by Oxford University’s Professor Roger Penrose and Yerevan State University’s Professor Vahe Gurzadyan.

The British and Armenian scientists claim that NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotophy Probe, which gazes into the CMB, revealed traces of radiation that appear to predate the 13.7 billion years widely attributed to the Big Bang.

According to the posted evidence, 12 concentric circles have been uncovered by the CMB probe, some containing up to five rings and with each ring representing the imprint of a huge mysterious cosmic event.

An explanatory “conformal cyclic cosmology” theory put forth to support the evidence suggests the echoes were caused by violent gravitational radiation waves when supermassive black holes collided during an “aeon” before the formation of our universe.

Further to that, Professor Penrose claims that the evidence shows black holes will eventually consume all the matter within the universe, which will, in turn, cause another Big Bang, restarting the cosmic process and ushering in another aeon.

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