How could we possibly see to within 100,000 light years of the big bang?

Question

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If all the matter in the universe came from this one spot where the big bang supposedly happened and matter shot out in all directions to form galaxies and what not...then how could we see that close to the beginning of time? Even 100,000 years after the big bang, the light waves would have easily flown past the matter that would later form our galaxy, solar system, ect. How can we assume the Cosmic Microwave Background is what scientist say it is? Are these scientist just making up sh*t? Someone put these pieces together for me. THanks

Answer 1

The rock and other mass must have been traveling faster than the speed of light (a lot faster) and once the planets have been "settled" the light from the blast could be seen.

It happens everyday we fell the sun but that heat is minutes old (8 or 18 i forget) So if we were to "turn off" the sun then we would still have light/heat for a couple of minutes.

Make sense now

Answer 2

Your problem is that you think that the Big bang happened "from this one spot," and spewed galaxies "in all directions." The BB did NOT happen "somewhere," nor did it spew galaxies anywhere. The universe is not an expanding bubble of matter, with things flying away from "one spot." The universe is uniformly filled with stuff everywhere, and the stuff in the universe isn't doing much moving. What is happening is that the space between the galaxies is expanding. There is more space today than there was yesterday. 13.7 billion years ago, there was very little space indeed, and everything was compact and hot. Everything, everywhere. Not in one particular spot, but EVERYWHERE. It's just that there wasn't as much of "everywhere" 13.7 billion years ago as there is now.  So you can see the BB (or at least the CMB) directly wherever you look 13.7 billion light years away because 13.7 billion years ago, the universe was dense and hot everywhere. Not in one spot. Everywhere.

Answer 3

From what I understand of the big bang the first stars and galaxies didn't form until 300,000 years after the big bang. So there was nothing to see until then.

Not all of what makes up the theory is from direct observation. The Wikipedia is a good place to start for a better understanding.  If you're really interested then dive as deep as possible into the subject.  There's enough info to keep you busy for years.

The Big Bang Theory isn't the be all-end all explanation of existence.  I'm sorry but that just doesn't exist. Basically all signs point to the big bang.  WMAP was the biggest indicator that the theory is accurate.

I hope you find what you're ultimately looking for.