What the polarization of the cosmic microwave background is revealing
Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - 08:40
in Astronomy & Space
Much of what we know about the origin and early history of the universe comes from a phenomenon discovered by accident 50 years ago: The cosmic microwave background (CMB). This very faint radiation, left over from a time – about 400,000 years after the Big Bang – when enough neutral atoms had formed to let light travel freely, is the closest thing science has to a panoramic snapshot of the contents of the cosmos as it was taking shape.