It conjures up the image of a giant firecracker, an ordinary explosion happening at a place and a time, a collection of material suddenly beginning to expand into the surrounding empty space. But this is so exactly opposite to what astronomers have observed that it is shocking we still use the name, and it is not the least bit surprising that some people object to it. Einstein didn’t like it at first but became convinced. Hoyle never liked it at all. People might like it better if they knew what it meant.