The Eternal Sky, Part 3: Tools for Bang or Bounce

Telescopes at the Simons Observatory will help decipher the origins of the universe. Third in a series.

From a vantage point thousands of meters above sea level, scientists hope to detect minute temperature fluctuations in the afterglow of the universe’s birth.

A new short film, the third installment in a series produced by the Simons Foundation, follows the scientists as they design and build the cutting-edge technology that will elucidate the origins of the cosmos, whether a Big Bang or a Big Bounce.

“The impact of the Simons Observatory is that it will reveal to us what really happened to the universe 13.8 billion years ago,” says Paul Steinhardt, Albert Einstein Professor in Science and director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science in the film. “Did it have a beginning, springing from some wild, quantum turbulent state, or what really happened is that it underwent a bounce-it was originally contracting then simply began to expand due to some phenomena that occur when it became really dense.”

Future installments of “The Eternal Sky” will continue to follow the design and construction of the Simons Observatory. Parts one and two of the series are available here.