The standard cosmological model ($\Lambda CDM$) assumes that everything
started in a singular Big Bang out of Cosmic Inflation, a mysterious form of
modern Aether (the inflaton). Here we look for direct observational evidence
for such beginning in two recent measurements: 1) cosmic acceleration,
something $\Lambda CDM$ attributes to Dark Energy (DE), 2) discordant
measurements for $H_0$ and anomalies in the CMB. We find here that observed
variations in $H_0$ correspond to large metric perturbations that are not
consistent with the simplest models of Inflation or DE in the $\Lambda CDM$
paradigm. Together, these observations indicate instead that cosmic expansion
could originate from a simple gravitational collapse and bounce. We conjecture
that such bounce is trigger by neutron degeneracy at GeV energies. This new
paradigm explains the heavens above using only the known laws of Physics,
without any new Aether, DE or Inflation.
