Big Bang. Conceptual computer artwork of the origin and evolution of the universe. The term Big Bang describes the initial expansion of all matter in the universe from an infinitely compact state 13.7 billion years ago. The initial conditions are not known, but less than a second after the beginning, temperatures were trillions of degrees Celsius and the primordial universe was much smaller than an atom. It has been expanding and cooling ever since. Matter formed and coalesced into the galaxies (around edge of picture), which are observed to be moving away from each other. It is thought that something called dark energy is maintaining the expansion of the universe.