The Oldest Light in the Universe
Feb. 11, 2003: NASA today released the best "baby picture" of the Universe ever taken; the image contains such stunning detail that it may be one of the most important scientific results of recent years. Scientists used NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) to capture the new cosmic portrait, which reveals the afterglow of the big bang, a.k.a. the cosmic microwave background. For the story visit The Oldest Light in the Universe.
A full-sky map of the oldest light in the universe. Colors indicate "warmer" (red) and "cooler" (blue) spots. The oval shape is a projection to display the whole sky; similar to the way the globe of the earth can be represented as an oval. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team For some really good stuff about Cosmology and the Universe, check out NASA's Universe 101 and the pages linked to it.
To see the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) for yourself, turn on your TV.
Fraser: So if we had a big enough telescope, we could look out to the very edges of the universe and see that light in all directions, right? You're looking back in time, so if you look far enough back in time, you would see in all directions, right?
Pamela: In fact, it's not so much about a big enough telescope, as a telescope capable of seeing in the right colours. In fact, your television antenna, is (at a certain level) a big enough telescope. When you see static in your television, part of that static you're seeing is light from the moment when the universe cooled off enough that the photons could go flying off on their own.
These quotes are from the transcript of a from a podcast Ep. 5: The Big Bang and Cosmic Microwave Background on Astronomy Cast.
Birth of a PlanetAccording to the Big Bang theory, the formation of our home planet began about 13.7 billion years ago with a cataclysmic explosion that created all matter and space almost instantaneously. Read the rest in our text on pp. 598-601.
Cosmic Dark Age - a time without stars - Death Star - BBC Horizon science
Birth of the Solar System
Hubble's Expanding Universe Red Shifts The Big Bang
For a good read about the Big Bang and how we learned a lot of this stuff, I recommend Simon Singh's Big Bang and Neil DeGrasse Tyson's book Origins which also has a PBS website with lots of links to interesting stuff.
20 comments:
The origins of the universe has always fascinated me. I am a regular viewer of the Nova series as well as anything on Discovery or Smithsonian. Of all the branches of science, this has always been my favorite. Unfortunately, I do not have the math skills needed to pursue this field.
Michael Stephens
Esci 111-001
I am not much of a fan of astrology or things’ concerning space, but that picture of the universe was very interesting. The fact that the image contains not only the world we live in and the plants around us, but a vast amount of unexplored and unknown entities. To imagine that we could start as particles floting in space and become complex life forms is astounding. I found a video that speaks on the beggining of our universe.
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=B1AXbpYndGc
Devin Robinson
The Universe, what a mystery! Studding the Universe is always astonishing to me. I can't believe we have the technology to study the things that NASA investigates. In our life time we will probably see humans travel to Mars. THAT's crazy! Also, I wouldn't be surprised if we discover life on another planet such as bacteria, (not ET or the avatar guys)! Ha, also I found this article about an Earth like planet, check it out...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-57337039-239/earth-like-planet-found-in-distant-suns-habitable-zone/
David Kasich
The big bang theory is really fascinating. I am intrigued by the idea of earth being formed through one event is daunting. Space in general is fascinating. There is so much we don't know, or that technology has not allowed us to find yet. I like to think that space will always be something that we always are learning more about.
Carley Pfleger
I have always loved astrology and learning new things ever since I was younger. While there is so much that we do not know yet that one day I believe we will discover. I always like reading about the big bang theory because it has always caught my interest. Also I am going to take you up on the recommendation of reading Simon Singh's Big Bang.
Patricia Doyle
Although I haven't been exposed to much astrology in my lifetime, I have always found it fascinating. I enjoy looking up in the sky at the stars on a clear night and being able to pick out the little dipper or big dipper before my friends. I watched the YouTube video you posted about the dark age and enjoyed it! I can't imagine a time when there was hardly anything in the atmosphere to look at and thought it gave a better understanding of how the stars developed to where they are now.
Britini Irwin
I was really intrigued by the television statement. I never knew that a television antenna can be thought of as a telescope. Television is an activity used daily by many of us for a multitude of reasons, and static is common. It interesting to know that the universe is a cause of static.
Michelle Probst
Growing up I wanted to be an aerospace engineer, just so I could find other "worlds" out there. The Big Bang theory I can agree with. I find it so interesting that the explosion of a dying star had created our universe and time! To wrap the thought of that around my head boggles me. Also, the "baby pic" of the sky in our universe is very cool. To see that there are still hot spots and warm spots all over after billions of years!!
Melissa McKenney
This might be a little bit off topic but Have you ever seen the tv show The Big Bang Theory? It's a comedy about a bunch of super smart scientists and I'm almost positive they have a episode where they contemplate the beginning of the earth and the universe. That's just what this article reminded me of so I figured I would find out if anyone else watches this show.
-Nathan Pierce
I've always been taught that the universe was infinite. How could they have a picture of the entire thing? How can they be sure that it's right? As I was reading the article about the oldest light in the universe, I couldn't help but question it (but then again, who am I to question?). I read "The light we see today... has traveled for over 13 billion years to reach us", and I wondered from where is the light traveling? Where does it start before it gets to us on Earth and how do we know that it started out there? If we know.
Julie Lisak
I can't even fathom how to imagine the universe by that picture. The globe analogy is used to represent the surface of the universe...how do we comprehend the volume of the globe? I'm so curious as to how the universe is mapped in a 3-D media.
-Chris Pilger
When it comes to the universe it is hard for me to imagine the size of it. I can't really imagine it at all. Although I am unable to actually comprehend the size of the universe, space has always intrigued me. From the different types of planets to the different galaxys. It's so crazy that we can now map the universe.
Shelby Berberich
Is very interesting how NASA was able to take this picture of Earth. I think is wonderful that NASA is exploring the universe so we can understand more about it.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Some thoughts on the Universe":
I don't know much about the big bang theory but this is interesting to me. When I was in high school I was in the marching band. My senior year we did a show that was based off of the "big bang". The opening set was an illusion of the how the "big bang" was created. I would love to learn more about this theory.
Rhandi Beaty
When thinking about the universe its extremely hard to imagine how it all started. I don't think we will ever have a definate answer due to the fact that obviously no one was around then to observe it, but i do think scientists can come up with some very good explinations. The "big bang" theory has always interested me and i think it would be interesting to talk about more in class.
~Tarah Kohler
I don't know much about the Universe nor have I been motivated to learn much about it on my own time. However, when it is being taught in a class or there is a program on tv about it, I do find it quite interesting. The fact that there is so many pictures of the Universe that you can tell so much information from is fascinating.
-Jayna Brennan
Might be a silly question, but is there a possibility of another catastrophic event like The Big Bang?
-Victor McIntosh
It's so weird that we can have a picture of the whole universe. Like someone else mentioned in their comment, I didn't know that the universe had a limit. Apparently I'm wrong because I just looked at a photo of the whole thing! I just wonder, if that's a picture of the whole sky, what is past that?
I’ve never really studied much about astrology except for in grade school whenever we would learn about all of the constellations. That always really amazed me that people could actually look up in the sky and find these images. The baby picture of the universe was very fascinating. I can’t begin to imagine how big the universe is as a whole. I never knew what the cause of static was in a television before either, it’s amazing how something that’s right in front of me can be caused by something way out in the universe. Although I don’t know much about astrology it’s never failed to fascinate me whenever it has be talked about. There so much we know but yet so much to still learn.
-Kierstyn Bone
I can't believe that we have the scientific ability to be able to see the universe in this way. I never really think about how the universe started even after learning about the big bang theory. Its pretty amazing to me that we can get the picture of the whole universe and see what kinda went on.
-Caitlin Corey
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