The field of cosmology is booming, attracting new recruits, using fantastic new instruments, and producing a plethora of exciting new ideas.
The first release of data from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, from its perch high above the atmosphere, the satellite has measured
the first light released after the big bang:
photons that had been streaming freely through the universe since the moment when electrons first began to combine with protons to form stable,
neutral hydrogen atoms, about 380,000 years after the universe began. (Before that moment, ambient temperatures were too high to allow stable hydrogen to form.)
The following year, spacewalking astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, paving the way for further astronomical inquiry unhindered by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Two independent teams used the refurbished Hubble to study supernovae, cataclysmic explosions from self-destructive stars that can temporarily outshine entire galaxies.
Their data, first announced in 1998, reversed decades of expectations by suggesting that our universe isn’t just getting bigger; it’s getting bigger faster.
The first release of data from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, from its perch high above the atmosphere, the satellite has measured
the first light released after the big bang:
photons that had been streaming freely through the universe since the moment when electrons first began to combine with protons to form stable,
neutral hydrogen atoms, about 380,000 years after the universe began. (Before that moment, ambient temperatures were too high to allow stable hydrogen to form.)
The following year, spacewalking astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, paving the way for further astronomical inquiry unhindered by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Two independent teams used the refurbished Hubble to study supernovae, cataclysmic explosions from self-destructive stars that can temporarily outshine entire galaxies.
Their data, first announced in 1998, reversed decades of expectations by suggesting that our universe isn’t just getting bigger; it’s getting bigger faster.
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