The secrets of the universe are free to share

Great news for space lovers!

Scientists at UCLA have been digging into the mysteries of the universe, and they’ve shared some amazing updates that make our cosmic home both easier to understand and even more fascinating.

If you’ve ever looked up at the stars and wondered about the origin of our universe or how old everything is, without relying on fantasy or religious dogma, there is a vast amount of information available for free to you.

Thanks to a project called the Dark Energy Survey (DES), researchers have learned more about the universe’s history. Back on August 4, 2017, the DES team released their first big findings.

They teamed up with other space experts using data from the Planck satellite, which studies the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)—basically, the leftover glow from the Big Bang.

They also looked at galaxy clustering, supernovas (exploding stars), and something called Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), which are like cosmic sound waves from the early universe.

Here’s the exciting part: the universe is really, really old—about 13.8 billion years! That’s older than the Earth, which is around 4.5 billion years old.

Scientists figured this out by studying how fast the universe is expanding.

A guy named Edwin Hubble, way back in 1929, discovered that galaxies are moving away from each other, and the farther they are, the faster they’re moving.

This idea, called Hubble’s Law, helps us understand that the universe started with a big explosion—the Big Bang—and has been growing ever since.

The DES also confirmed something called the Cosmological Principle, which says the universe looks pretty much the same everywhere, no matter where you are.

That means there’s no “center” to the universe, which is kind of mind-blowing! It’s like being in a giant balloon that’s getting bigger, and we’re all just along for the ride. Speaking of balloons, the UCLA team even made a fun animation to show how this works—imagine dots on a balloon stretching apart as it inflates.

Another cool discovery is about the stuff that makes up the universe. The light elements—like hydrogen and helium—were created right after the Big Bang, and their amounts match what scientists predicted.

This was a big win for the Big Bang theory! Plus, as the universe expands, the CMB gets cooler, which is exactly what we see happening.

Ned Wright, the UCLA professor behind this work, has been sharing these discoveries through his Cosmology Tutorial.

He’s been at this for years, even mentioning older studies from 2012 that helped confirm these ideas.

Wright’s tutorial is packed with simple explanations, animations, and even a redshift guessing game to make learning about space fun for everyone.

He uses basic high school math—like algebra and geometry—to explain things, so you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get it.

What does this all mean?

It shows us that the universe is a vast, incredible place, and we’re learning more about it every day.

These discoveries help us understand where we came from and where we’re going.

The universe isn’t just a bunch of stars—it’s a story, and we’re part of it. So, the next time you look up at the night sky, smile knowing that scientists are uncovering its secrets, and there’s so much more to explore!

If you want to learn more, check out Ned Wright’s Cosmology Tutorial online.

It’s free, and you might even want to try the expanding balloon animation yourself!