The accidental discovery
The universe's first light
Mapping the baby universe
Deciphering the cosmic recipe
YOUR GOAL
Master of The cosmic microwave background
artiteacher Deciphering the cosmic recipe
Tuned to static snow, hear the cosmos hum, oldest light alive!
artiteacher Measurements of the cosmic microwave background's ripples prove that the geometry of space is remarkably flat.
artiteacher The cosmic microwave background reveals that normal matter makes up only a tiny fraction of the universe.
Frozen music: The patterns in the cosmic microwave background are actually frozen soundwaves from the first 380,000 years of the universe.
The property of being directionally dependent, which manifests as different physical properties along different axes. In 2013, the Planck space telescope mapped these temperature variations to calculate the universe's precise constituent ingredients.
What percentage of the universe is made up of normal matter like stars, planets, and people?
What happened to the soundwaves in the early universe when recombination occurred?
What force fought against gravity to create the acoustic oscillations in the early universe?
What geometric shape does the cosmic microwave background prove our universe has on a large scale?
What is the dominant ingredient in our universe, making up over 68% of its total composition?