You may have seen this map, which has been making the rounds since its release by the European Space Agency Thursday. It's a beauty, isn't it?
The map represents a snapshot of light left over from the Big Bang, or more technically, the cosmic microwave background that makes up the Big Bang's afterglow.
The light, scientists explained at a press conference, started out as a white hot glow, which would have been blindingly bright 370,000 years after the Big Bang, when it was first emitted. But in the 13.8 billion years since, the universe expanded by 1,100 times, and the glow has cooled so much that it is now invisible to the eye.
But it's not invisible to Planck, the satellite that was built to see and measure this ancient light with unmatched precision. It was created by the European Space Agency's Planck mission, which has been scanning and mapping the skies since it launched into space in 2009. On Thursday, they reported their analysis of the first 15 months of data. Planck is successor to NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). But it has more sensitivity and higher resolution.
"It's as if we've gone from a standard-definition to a high-definition television," said Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA, in a press conference on Thursday. "New and important details have become crystal clear."
The colors in the map represent tiny temperature fluctuations, which show variations in the intensity of the light. And imprinted in this light, scientists said at yesterday's NASA press conference on the subject, is evidence of the universe's origin and its evolution, clues to what happens just 10 nano nano nano nano seconds after the Big Bang.
Among the findings: The universe, at 13.8 billion years older, is about 100 million years older than previously thought, said Martin White, a U.S. Planck scientist from the University of California at Berkeley. It expanded more rapidly in the past in the past than we thought, but expands more slowly today. There's less dark energy but more dark matter, and it's "clumpier than we previously thought," White said.
"The Planck satellite should be thought of as cosmology's human genome project," said Marc Kamionkowski, professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. "Just as our DNA determines many of our individual characteristics, the Planck map shows the seeds from which the current universe grew."
QUICK BITES
Great lede from Discovery News: "Ever have one of those days when you can't find anything: your keys, your cell phone or that darned Farallon tectonic plate? I'm happy to report some progress on the plate. The Farallon plate, what's left of it, is just fragments of oceanic crust off the West Coast."
Sex in space could be dangerous, CNET reports.
Terrific post by Ed Yong on the science of the swarm, and how "complexity can arise from incredibly simple rules."
Are you a cookie dunker? Science says you're not crazy; they really do taste better that way. NPR has the story on why our taste buds prefer crunchy cookies once they've been softened by milk, tea or coffee.
Where's Voyager 1? That Depends.
What happens to a teenager's brains when they sleep? It might surprise you.
NOT SAFE FOR LUNCH
Forget Thanksgiving: In the world of gorging, the Dolly Varden trout has humans and their holidays beat. A new study finds this trout feasts once a year, expanding its gut up to four times the normal size to make the space.
Photo credit: Planck is a European Space Agency mission, with significant participation from NASA. Image by ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Tom Kennedy, Rebecca Jacobson, Patti Parson and David Pelcyger contributed to this report.