My Picture Of Science At 50

Science is theories and hypothesis, field study and experiments. Theories are almost always provisional. When observation proves them they live just so they will get to the next observation. When emperical data disproves them, they are discarded or modified (put in lower class bin, so to speak). Most people don't understant this. 

The current theory or model of the universe is based on Einstein's General Relativity and quantum mechanics. Most of Newton's classic theory still holds; whatever differences there is is too small to matter in the general discussion of the nature of the universe. But that difference explains the existence of black holes, wormholes, time travel, nature of space-time, etc. 

Edwin Hubble's work in observing the stars (astronomy) provided proof that the universe is expanding, that the stars are moving away from each other. The theory is that the universe began as an infinitesimal particle and very dense at the very beginning of time. Then Big Bang, an explosion of mass and energy, the beginning of time. 

I was in 5th grade when my group's science project to build a model of the solar system won a place inside a glass cabinet at the science room. We were all very proud to finish that. The solar system is just a small pixel among many stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is just one among billions in the universe. If I compare this to my 4k resolution monitor, the solar system won't even make it to one pixel.