Myths, shortcuts and labels

Some familiar lines about the Big Bang are fair. Some compress a disagreement into a single tidy sentence. Try these, then read why.

The Big Bang was a firecracker exploding at a time and a place, with a centre.

The universe has a centre, and galaxies are rushing away from it.

We can see the Big Bang itself with the James Webb Space Telescope.

The age of the universe is settled, in every good source, at exactly 13.8 billion years.

Astronomers know what triggered cosmic inflation.

The leftover glow was found because a team went looking for it, and only because of that.

The first chemical elements of life were made in the Big Bang itself.

The cosmic microwave background is the oldest light we can observe in the universe.