One of the two things that have remained enigmatic to my mind over a long time is the formation of galaxies. That is, how galaxies, those elephantine cosmic juggernauts came into being?

Before my young friends ask, “What is the second thing that bugs your mind?” I hasten to add that it is the Black Holes — those enigmatic freaks (usually found at the centre of galaxies) that have mesmerised astronomers ever since they were first “discovered” a few decades back. We will discuss about the Black Holes when it is their turn to do so. But for now let us return to the question of the origin of galaxies.

As you know that the universe came into being some 15 billion years ago. This period includes the “compression” time and the time since that cataclysmic explosion called the Big Bang took place.

When we talk about the creation of the universe, we really mean the beginning of the process that led firstly to the creation of matter and then (secondly) to the dispersal of matter into galaxies, star clusters, globular clusters, individual stars, whichever came first (invoking a question much like “the egg or the chick, which came first?”!), and later on the planets, moons, comets, asteroids, nebulae et al. Not to ignore the colossal amounts of black or dark matter that populates galaxies.

Now let us consider how galaxies came into existence, or wherefrom they took the massive amounts of matter, or materials to coalesce into galaxies, before moving on to the other aspects of the universe.

First of all there must be enough matter for all the galaxies, at least 200 billion of them. We are compelled to treat galaxies rather than any other forms as basic units of the universe. We must go back to the time when universe itself was in theprocess of coming into being i.e., somewhat before the Big Bang.

Astronomers believe that matter lay scattered (in furious motion) across the length and breadth of the universe before it gradually stopped moving. Then it began to rush in opposite direction. Slowly at first (as a car moving in first gear) — thisfor a few hundred million years, then rapidly, at furious speed -- again for a few hundred million years. The inexorable rushof galaxies remained galaxies no matter what. Collisions did take place here and there, but by and large the order in the“pre-universe” did not disintegrate.

When the rush became too much to handle, the matter gave up its individuality, crowded together and began to converge and ultimately to collide with each other on a large scale. The nearest galaxies lost their identity by merging into oneanother and became indistinguishable, while the others kept crashing into one another, increasing gravity and heat and, of course, volume. The resultant compression yet continued. Until it became one being, and continued to crush on itself,compressing more and more and still more.

Then came the “time” (although it cannot be called “time” until it begins). Then all the galaxies became one big blob — huge and super hot mass, perhaps trillions of miles in diameter. In the process, matter lost its individual characteristicscompletely.

But from here onwards I think of it differently from other astronomers. And this is how I differ from them, this being enigma number one! Although astronomers believe that all galactic matter had come together clamping into one place, this lump, in their opinion, was no bigger than a single atom which, when it blew apart, flew in all directions at very high speeds, breaking up into galaxies that now number more than 200 billion each, with billions often hundreds of billions of stars.

Massive, aren’t they?!

However I disagree. With the atom part, that is. While I maintain most of what the other astronomers believe, I disagree with the size of the atom. I believe that it was a big, huge “atom”, if at all the term atom can be applied in this case (just as yourself, or a cricket ball are both made up of billions of atoms each, but I won’t call you an atom).

The “atom” was very large; I reckon it was billions of miles across. Highly compressed (billions of tons per spoonful) and super-heated (more than a trillion degrees Kelvin), packed beyond imagination (one trillion is one followed by 12 zeros).

These crazy figures alone could only have made the present day universe possible. So much matter could only have been accommodated in an “atom”, post Big Bang. For, matter cannot be created, it cannot be destroyed, (the first Law of Conservation of Matter).

Of course, I hold my views, having reached them after exhaustive considerations. You, my friends, are welcome to your own, just as you are welcome to disagree — not without a plausible explanation though. About types of galaxies, we willdiscuss it in the next issue.

The writer is a professional astronomer and a former head of PIA Planetaria. He can be reached at

astronomerpreone@hotmail.com