a

. This problem was first explained by R. H. Dicke, “Gravitation and the Universe: The Jayne Lectures for 1969,” American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, 1970, p. 62. Alan Guth’s attempt to solve it (see “c” below) led to the “inflationary big bang theory.”

b

. This missing mass is called dark matter, because it cannot be seen and, so far, has not been detected. Candidates for “missing mass” include neutrinos, black holes, dead stars, low-mass stars, and various subatomic particles and objects dreamed up by cosmologists simply to solve this problem. Each candidate has many scientific problems.

One study of two adjacent galaxies shows that they have relatively little dark matter. [See Ron Cowen, “Ringing In a New Estimate for Dark Matter,” Science News, Vol. 136, 5 August 1989, p. 84.] Another study found no missing mass within 150 million light-years of Earth. [See Eric J. Lerner, “COBE Confounds the Cosmologists,” Aerospace America, March 1990, pp. 40–41.] A third study found no dark matter in a large elliptical galaxy, M105. [See “Dark Matter Isn’t Everywhere,” Astronomy, September 1993, pp. 19–20.] A fourth study found no dark matter in the main body of our galaxy. [See Alexander Hellemans, “Galactic Disk Contains No Dark Matter,” Science, Vol. 278, 14 November 1997, p. 1230.] A fifth study, after cataloging the positions and distances of 100 million galaxies, concluded that the needed mass does not exist. [See Ron Cowen, “Whole-Sky Catalog,” Science News, Vol. 155, 6 February 1999, pp. 92–93.]

“Of all the many mysteries of modern astronomy, none is more vexing than the nature of dark matter. Most astronomers believe that large quantities of some unidentified material pervade the universe. ... Yet this dark matter has eluded every effort by astronomers and physicists to bring it out of the shadows. A handful of us suspect that it might not really exist, and others are beginning to consider this possibility seriously.” Mordehai Milgrom, “Does Dark Matter Really Exist?” Scientific American, Vol. 287, August 2002, p. 43.

“Even the most enthusiastic cosmologist will admit that current theories of the nature of the universe have some big holes. One such gap is that the universe seems to be younger than some of the objects contained within it. [See “How Old Do Evolutionists Say the Universe Is?” on page 340.] Another problem is that the observed universe just doesn’t appear to have enough matter in it to explain the way it behaves now, nor the way theorists predict it will evolve.” Robert Matthews, “Spoiling a Universal ‘Fudge Factor,’” Science, Vol. 265, 5 August 1994, pp. 740–741.

c

. This is called the “inflationary big bang.” It was proposed by Alan H. Guth in a paper titled “A Possible Solution to the Horizon and Flatness Problem” in Physical Review, D, Vol. 23, 15 January 1981, pp. 348–356.

The “missing mass problem” can be stated more directly. If the big bang occurred, the total mass of the expanding universe should have a very precise relationship with the outward velocities and distances of all galaxies and other matter. This mass must not deviate from this amount by even one part in 10⁵⁵ (ten thousand million billion trillion trillion trillion).

If the mass were slightly greater than this critical value (the closed condition):

i.

gravity would have quickly collapsed all the matter in the universe into one big ball, perhaps within seconds,

ii.

we would not be here to wonder how everything began.

If the mass were slightly less than this critical value (the open condition):

i.

particles would have expanded indefinitely,

ii.

stars and galaxies would not have formed, and

iii.

we would not be here to think about it.

The estimated mass of the visible universe is less than a tenth of this critical value. Stars and galaxies exist. Therefore, the big bang probably did not occur. Faith in the big bang theory requires believing that a vast amount of invisible, unmeasurable mass is hidden somewhere.

This problem can be viewed another way. If the universe began in a big bang billions of years ago, it should:

i.

have collapsed on itself (closed), or

ii.

have expanded so much that stars and galaxies could never have formed (open), or

iii.

have expansion velocities for most visible particles in the universe that lie within a ridiculously tight one part in 10⁵⁵ of their escape velocities!

Consequently, the universe probably did not begin in a big bang billions of years ago.