Facts about the Cosmic Microwave Background
- 08
Acoustic peaks in the Cosmic Microwave Background power spectrum at specific angular scales reveal sound waves frozen in the primordial plasma 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
- 07
Observed anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background show a dipole asymmetry indicating Earth's motion through space at approximately 370 kilometers per second relative to the radiation's rest frame.
- 06
WMAP observations between 2001 and 2009 determined the Cosmic Microwave Background's exact temperature as 2.72548 kelvin, correcting earlier measurements.
- 05
At 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe became transparent enough for Cosmic Microwave Background radiation to decouple from matter and stream freely through space.
- 04
Photons from the Cosmic Microwave Background have been traveling for 13.8 billion years, making it the oldest light observable in the universe.
- 03
Planck satellite measurements from 2013 revealed the Cosmic Microwave Background is polarized, allowing scientists to map the universe's magnetic fields from 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
- 02
Tiny temperature fluctuations of 0.00001 kelvin in the Cosmic Microwave Background reveal the seeds of galaxies that formed billions of years later.
- 01
In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the Cosmic Microwave Background at 3.7 kelvin using a Bell Labs antenna.