This concise explanation of Cosmology principles is possibly the web’s most complete, explicit and accurate glossary from a physics point of view. It is the most complete (and rare) because it presents the best evidence and reasoning from both sides of the Big Bang controversy.
It is explicit in explaining definitions of cosmology terms in the least ambiguous way possible without losing any accuracy. You will also find abundant high-quality references for controversial topics linked in.
Written at roughly a Discover magazine reading level (though maybe sometimes a bit higher) it is intended to tell the full story and explain it accurately and clearly. It is not a truncated or dumbed-down version of the best available evidence and reasoning. No math expertise is needed and no equations are employed. Nevertheless, one should definitely fasten your sense-of-humor seat belt to help navigate my occasional diversions.
While this Glossary is intended for all astronomy and cosmology students, and scientists from other disciplines it should still be useful and understandable for anyone with a fascination for facts and ideas about the largest phenomena known to our species. Due to its rapid update system and this writer’s perpetually mislaid blinders – even senior Astrophysicists and Cosmologists might learn something here.
Warning: Please bear in mind that essentially every idea and interpretation in cosmology (not astrophysics) is disputed; every idea from the Age of our Universe, to Tired Light to Redshift. Observations are rarely contested, but the interpretation of the data is.
This conclusion is based on my decades of research leading to this 15,000 word glossary. The disputes appear to use generally rational arguments by generally reasonable people from the many different sides of the debate. I try to present the best available evidence and reasoning here (and provide the best available science links for further research) so you can make up your own mind. You will also find definitions of key logical fallacies that could be operating in cosmology.
Disclaimer: I do have a bias. My bias is to trust only physical experiments that provide actual observable results and explanations that do not commit a logical fallacy or violate a law of physics.
Please don’t confuse my effort to provide you with the best available explanations of Cosmology ideas with my concluding or suggesting that every one of the included ideas is consistent with solidly established laws of physics, free of logical fallacies and valid.
To proceed to the Glossary click this link Glossary of Cosmology Principles
English
What do you think about the recent photograph taken of the black hole?