The cosmic microwave background reveals the early universe from "summary" of La vita del cosmo by Lee Smolin
The cosmic microwave background is a faint glow of radiation that fills the universe, coming from all directions. This radiation provides us with crucial information about the early universe, as it dates back to just a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang. The cosmic microwave background was first discovered in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who were working with a radio telescope. They found that no matter where they pointed their telescope, they detected a uniform background radiation. This radiation was not associated with any known source and was the same in all directions. The cosmic microwave background radiation is crucial because it reveals the conditions of the universe when it was only a few hundred thousand years old. At that time, the universe was a hot, dense place filled with a plasma of particles and radiation. As the universe expanded and cooled, this plasma began to condense into atoms, allowing light to travel freely through space. The cosmic microwave background radiation is the afterglow of this early universe, frozen in time and space. By studying this radiation, scientists can learn about the composition, structure, and evolution of the universe in its earliest stages. This radiation contains small fluctuations or ripples that provide clues about the seeds of cosmic structure, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters.- The cosmic microwave background radiation is a powerful tool for cosmologists, allowing them to peer back in time and learn about the universe's infancy. Through analyzing this radiation, scientists can test theories about the origin and evolution of the cosmos, shedding light on some of the most profound questions about our existence.
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