The diary of the Universe

I am the UNIVERSE. I started writing my diary when I am 1000 years old. Yes, that is when I became somewhat mature. First, I will note down my birth and then  I will continue scribbling in the diary if I observe anything noteworthy. God, please help me in my resolution.

I was born when all the matter and energy were contained in a hot, dense point size of a billionth of a nuclear particle. There was a big bang. In about 10-43 seconds, I came into existence. It was a very hot and dense point then. Weakly interacting massive particles, dark matter, and dark energy appeared and I started growing. As an infant, I was getting cooled down when I started expanding outwards. I had cooled down to 10^32 kelvin (degrees).

Now, the gravity separated and the electronuclear forces such as bosons and matter were developed. This is when I started writing my diary. I hope I continue writing whenever I see anything different.

Today nearly 300 million years have passed.

Many stars with their solar systems are formed. The stars have started shining. Few stars were bigger and hotter but had a short life Now 400 million years have passed since then and many stars have started their own habitat called Galaxy. The galaxy I loved most was named the Milky Way. The number of galaxies and the stars in each galaxy was increasing by leaps and bounds.

3.0 billion years: The first observed habitable planet, is formed.

5.0 billion years: Rocky substances are solidified – these nurseries lead to the formation of rocky terrestrial planets, moons, asteroids, and icy comets

8 billion years: Alpha Centauri Star System, the closest star to the Sun, is formed.

9.13 billion years: In the milky-way galaxy ,Proxima Centauri forms completing the Alpha Centauri trinary system

9.23 billion years: My most favoured solar system was evolving faster. Four Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune ) evolve around the sun.

9.27 billion years: Earth-Moon system is formed.

9.3 billion years: Sun becomes a main sequence yellow star. Formation of the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt from which a stream of comets like Halley’s Comet and Hale-Bopp begins passing through the Solar System, sometimes colliding with planets and the Sun. And the most important, evolutionary, Water was formed on earth.

9.8 billion years: Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies had a little collision. 10.4 billion years: Life is evolved on Earth.

11 billion years: The photosynthesis process started on earth.

13 billion years: Multi-cellular life was born on earth. Plants started growing.

13.35 billion years: Vega and Sirius, the bright stars in the Earth’s sky, were formed. Further development took place on earth. Vertebrates were evolved.

The tilt of the axis and the elliptical orbit tracing of the earth gave rise to different seasons on earth. I am getting extremely curious to observe the developments on this cute planet, earth.

The cycle of changing seasons was a regular affair as the speed of rotation and the orbit were followed strictly by the planets of the solar system. At the beginning of the month of April, spring appeared after passing a harsh, bone-chilling, bitter winter.

The trees which had shed leaves during fall and become bare have started sprouting new leaves.  A joyous atmosphere has arrived. The spring is welcome. Many plants have started flowering. Flashes of different brilliant colours are seen all around. The world of plants is increasing in size.

To accompany various colours, birds with melodious calls have joined merrymaking. Returning from a distant place on the planet where they had migrated to save themselves from harsh winter, the birds are happy to get back to the place of comfort and take charge of the areas nearby lakes to lay the eggs. Some smaller birds are making their nests on the trees where the emerging leaves are getting unfurled. Soon the eggs are laid in the nests. After some time, the eggs are hatched. And now, the parent birds keep taking care of the fledging young ones. The winged friends grow in size and in number too.

The same is the case for fauna. Spring carries with it the mating season.  The animals give birth to young ones and their population starts swelling.

But every species has a predetermined life span. The birds, animals, and plants end their life after a specific amount of time.  The cycle of life and death continues. Growing more and more, only to end its existence finally.  Humans also fall in this category.

The difference is the period of the cycle. Some insects live for  hours whereas some for days. Many birds live a small number of months whereas animals have a life cycle of a few years. Some animals live for some decades of years whereas not many live even for a few centuries.

Some stars also die but the universe goes on expanding. I am so happy that from a size of a speck, I have grown so big. A fantastic achievement. Now some trillions of years have passed.

As I had dreaded, I stopped writing diary. Of course, there was nothing different happening. Inflationary expansion, formation of new stars and new galaxies was going on. As a result, I have become enormously big. But since last few hundreds of years, I have noticed that star and galaxy formation is reducing.

The existing stars are fizzling out. The glittering property of sky is disappearing. The sky is becoming dark. And I am afraid the black holes have started gobbling up the matter. Slowly, the black holes will finish-up all the lingering matter. There won’t be anything left. I am seeing that very soon the traces of heat will disappear. And that would bring my death, the Big Freeze.

A few trillions of years passed: Again a big bang will take place. Instant birth from an infinitesimally small point, gradual inflationary growth. and a new universe will be born. It will start expanding and continue growing. After some period, presumably billions of years, the big crunch will end its life too.

This is the interminable cycle.

I hope somehow sometime this diary will be discovered by some intelligent species like human being and will be able to know how this universe lived its very long life, and how colourful life existed on the cute planet earth.

Vijay Likhite

Reference : Various articles on Internet