MURFREESBORO, TN (WGNS) - If you’ve ever wondered what the universe looked like in its first flicker of existence, the next First Friday Star Party at Middle Tennessee State University is ready to take you there. The free event begins at 6:30 p.m. this night, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Room 102 of Wiser‑Patten Science Hall, and this month’s topic reaches all the way back to the beginning — literally.
Physics and Astronomy lecturer Erik Monson will lead the evening with a talk titled “Everything, Everywhere, in 10⁻⁴³ Seconds or Less: The Scales of the Universe.” His presentation unpacks what happened immediately after the big bang, during a period so early and so extreme that the laws of physics as we know them hadn’t even formed.
To help audiences grasp the scale, Monson compares familiar time intervals — a heartbeat at one second, a camera flash at 10⁻³ seconds — before dropping down to the almost unimaginable Planck time: 10⁻⁴³ seconds after the big bang. That’s the realm where temperatures and densities were so intense that our current understanding of physics simply doesn’t apply. It's also known as Planck Epoch's “big bang theory".
“People might know that the universe initially looked quite different to the way it does now,” Monson said, “but this talk will give an introduction into the early history of the universe, and how it expanded into its current state.”
Monson, whose research includes the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes through X‑ray observations, will guide attendees through a timeline of cosmic history and the tools scientists use to study it. It’s a chance to see how the universe grew from something smaller than an atom to the vast expanse we live in today.
As always, Star Parties are free and open to the public, including children. Weather permitting, the talk will be followed by telescope viewing at the nearby MTSU Observatory. Parking is complimentary after 4:30 p.m. in the Judd‑Sims lot, the Walker Library lot, and nearby north‑campus lots.
This month’s topic was requested by a Star Party regular, and organizers welcome future ideas. Suggestions can be emailed to professor Chuck Higgins at chuck.higgins@mtsu.edu.
