Universe ID: 12314

Universe Expansion Funnel

Released on September 20, 2016

A representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years. The far left depicts the earliest moment we can now probe, when a period of "inflation" produced a burst of exponential growth in the universe. (Size is depicted by the vertical extent of the grid in this graphic.) For the next several billion years, the expansion of the universe gradually slowed down as the matter in the universe pulled on itself via gravity. More recently, the expansion has begun to speed up again as the repulsive effects of dark energy have come to dominate the expansion of the universe.

Credits

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Lead Producer
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Animator
Britt Griswold (Maslow Media Group): Illustrator

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center