What keeps the universe in balance?

CrowdScience listener Ndanusa in Ghana, is gazing up at the stars, and wondering. Big philosophical questions, like… what keeps our universe in balance?

From our perspective here on earth, the universe seems like a vast, harmonious system, perpetuating eternally without change. But Ndanusa knows a thing or two about the stars, and he knows that they use up hydrogen as they burn, and release helium. And he’s wondering, is there something out there which does the opposite? Something that uses up helium, and produces hydrogen, to keep the universe in perfect, chemical equilibrium?

His question makes sense! Here on earth for example, animals use up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide, and plants do the opposite. A perfect cycle of production and consumption which (at least in theory), keeps our planet in perfect balance. Could the same kind of system be in place in the wider expanse of the universe?

His intriguing question leads Alex Lathbridge on a journey into the blackness of deep space, the ancient origins of our universe, and the complex physics of the stars. He pops into the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory, just outside Accra, to peer into the earliest few seconds of our universe and find out what set the stars burning. And in the deep blackness of the Dark Sky Reserve, in Kakum National Park, he learns about what KEEPS them burning. Along the way, Alex picks up some of the ancient and fascinating traditional Ghanaian stories about the stars. It’s a culture that’s always looked to the heavens – so no wonder it got Ndanusa pondering!