'This Is the Sharpest Image Yet of Our Universe As a Baby' (science.org) 18
Science magazine reports:
A strange-looking telescope that scanned the skies from a perch in northern Chile for 15 years has released its final data set: detailed maps of the infant universe showing the roiling clouds of hydrogen and helium gas that would one day coalesce into the stars and galaxies we see today.
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope is not the first to survey the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the light released 380,000 years after the Big Bang when the early universe's soup of particles formed atoms and space became transparent. But the data — posted as preprints online today — give researchers a new level of detail on the density of the gas clouds and how they were moving.
At the top of the page for Science's article is an image where different colors "show areas where the polarization of the CMB light — its direction of vibration — differ, revealing how gases first move tangentially around areas of higher density (orange) and later fall straight in (blue) under the influence of gravity."
Long-time Slashdot reader sciencehabit writes: Using the data, researchers tested how well the standard cosmological theory, known as lambda cold dark matter, described the universe at that time 13.8 billion years ago; it's a remarkably good fit, they conclude.
The article notes that "back in the Chilean desert," the Atacama Cosmology Telescope's successor, the Simons Observatory, has already taken its first image, and "will begin its even more detailed examination of the CMB in the coming months."
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope is not the first to survey the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the light released 380,000 years after the Big Bang when the early universe's soup of particles formed atoms and space became transparent. But the data — posted as preprints online today — give researchers a new level of detail on the density of the gas clouds and how they were moving.
At the top of the page for Science's article is an image where different colors "show areas where the polarization of the CMB light — its direction of vibration — differ, revealing how gases first move tangentially around areas of higher density (orange) and later fall straight in (blue) under the influence of gravity."
Long-time Slashdot reader sciencehabit writes: Using the data, researchers tested how well the standard cosmological theory, known as lambda cold dark matter, described the universe at that time 13.8 billion years ago; it's a remarkably good fit, they conclude.
The article notes that "back in the Chilean desert," the Atacama Cosmology Telescope's successor, the Simons Observatory, has already taken its first image, and "will begin its even more detailed examination of the CMB in the coming months."
Could have saved ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I wonder if Winston Churchill looked like an adult as a baby? When babyification exceeds a threshold, then it reverses into realm of adulthood, like a fish swimming so deep that it pops out the other side in China.
Amazing time (Score:5, Insightful)
Off-topic but serious question (Score:1)
We can test our models and see which ones work and which ones need modified
The way I was taught, this should be either need to be modified or need modification . I lack the linguistic terminology to explain the distinction.
I've noticed this lately with other native English speakers. I'm old. Is this a generational thing, or what?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You are absolutely correct.
Re: (Score:2)
I've seen this kind of thing growing in popularity. It grates on my ears, but it is more and more common (A local TV ad for an automotive glass company states, "Whether your windshield needs repaired or replaced...").
While I agree with the above commenter that it doesn't create ambiguity, I see it as a lazy, bad usage that almost certainly extends to other, similar misuses that do actually create ambiguity. But I'm kind of a stickler.
Regional dialect (Score:2)
A relative who studied at CMU 40 years ago told me that was the way Pittsburgh townies spoke.
Re: (Score:3)
Possible to Look Back Further (Score:3)
We finally have instruments that can really look back as far as it is possible to see.
That's not actually correct. If we could detect neutrinos at incredibly low energies we could see the Big Bang neutrinos that were released even earlier than the cosmic microwave background. So far we have no idea how to detect such low energy neutrinos but there are estimated to be about 300 per cubic centimetre everywhere in the universe so there are a lot of them and, if we could detect them, then we could look back in time even further than the cosmic microwave background.
Is remarkably a statistical term? (Score:1)
Or are they looking at noise and mood affiliating?
Re:sorry, no. (correction) (Score:4, Funny)
"There are many different cosmological theories."
So there are. Me, I'm holding out for the turtles. I always liked turtles.
CMB implies Big Bang (Score:4)
There are many different cosmological theories.
Yes there are but the ones that still agree with the data all have a Big Bang. Fred Hoyle - the person who coined the term Big Bang - tried for years to develop a convincing steady-state alternative and despite being a brilliant physicist and a great speaker he failed to convince anyone of the validity of these models after the CMB was discovered and the data today are even more convincing.
Makes me feel insignificant. (Score:2)