Structure formation refers to a largely unsolved, but extensively researched problem in physical cosmology. The universe, as is now known from observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation, began in a hot, dense, nearly uniform state approximately 13.8 Gyr ago. However, looking in the sky today, we see structures on all scales, from stars and planets to galaxies and, on much larger scales still, galaxy clusters, and enormous voids between galaxies. How did all of this come about from the nearly uniform early universe?
Read more about Structure Formation: Overview, Very Early Universe, Primordial Plasma, Linear Structure, Nonlinear Structure, Gastrophysical Evolution
Famous quotes containing the words structure and/or formation:
“Man is more disposed to domination than freedom; and a structure of dominion not only gladdens the eye of the master who rears and protects it, but even its servants are uplifted by the thought that they are members of a whole, which rises high above the life and strength of single generations.”
—Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767–1835)
“The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)