Virtually every culture has origins myths. Now, for the first time, scientific answers appear within our grasp. Nova Cygni 1992 as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope about six months after the explosion. The ejecta have spectra strongly indicative of the rp-process of explosive nucleosynthesis. The Big Bang is no longer theory, but fact.
Recent discoveries confirm that a cataclysmic moment gave birth to the universe.
What happened after the Big Bang, however, remains a mystery. We also must gain a better understanding of the physical laws governing the universe. Satellites such as Microwave Anisotropy Probe, now being built, will map variations in the intensity of the cosmic microwave background, as will balloon-borne instruments and detectors at the South Pole. Laboratory experiments will attempt to detect particles that comprise the mysterious dark matter, and accelerators such as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider , the Tevatron , and the Large Hadron Collider will seek to recreate the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang. Origin of the Elements To support the new telescopes and interpret their findings, we also must champion basic research in fundamental physical forces and particles of nature.