Was There Anything Before The Big Bang?

The most distant objects in the universe are also the most ancient. When we look at the Andromeda galaxy, we’re seeing it as it was 2.5 million years ago. Reflection of sunlight off of Jupiter takes 30 minutes to reach us, and even more nearby objects don’t show up exactly as they are right now.

The earliest light scientists have detected is from when the universe was just about a few hundred thousand years old. This early light helped us discover the Big Bang. But what caused it in the first place?

The universe could have been hibernating before something set it in motion; it may have collided with another universe, or perhaps, it’s a part of an eternal cycle of cosmic bursts and rebounds.

Why was the early universe invisible? How does energy define time, and why is 97% of the observable universe forever out of our reach? Could all this lead to another Big Bang?