Even as a small tyke, I never believed in ghosts. Later, when I matured into a skeptic adult, one of my hobbies was debunking ghost stories as well as claimed "ghost images" or photos. But I must confess to being totally amazed at the latest European Space Agency image (compliments of the Planck satellite) of the "ghost of the Big Bang".
Now, of course, the speech and reference here is figurative, not a literal "ghost" with a consciousness. But as readers can see from the released photo, it's quite impressive.
This is a 180 degree superscan taken by the satellite across the rim of our own Milky Way galaxy, so this is the cross-section of it one sees in a kind of bluish tint over the field of view. The bright, white streak over the center of the image is from the hottest stars clustered near the Milky Way's center. (And where our data indicate a massive black hole resides).
The diaphanous streamers of blue, meanwhile, indicate the presence of hot emission nebula gas where new stars are being born.
The "ghost" of the Big Bang is the mottled reddish outer envelope, which denotes the cosmic microwave background radiation. This is the most ancient light in the universe, the 2.73 Kelvin relic or leftover radiation from the original explosion. In other words, this is what the original explosion has cooled to after some 14 billion years.
Of course, we have more than photos to establish that the reddish envelope is the Big Bang's relic imprint. We know, for example, that the ‘Big Bang’ can be obtained as a solution to one version of Einstein’s tensor equations. (The same equations that verify the theory of general relativity).
Enjoy the ghost image, and think of how small and hot the universe was (about the size of an atom) when it all began!
Now, of course, the speech and reference here is figurative, not a literal "ghost" with a consciousness. But as readers can see from the released photo, it's quite impressive.
This is a 180 degree superscan taken by the satellite across the rim of our own Milky Way galaxy, so this is the cross-section of it one sees in a kind of bluish tint over the field of view. The bright, white streak over the center of the image is from the hottest stars clustered near the Milky Way's center. (And where our data indicate a massive black hole resides).
The diaphanous streamers of blue, meanwhile, indicate the presence of hot emission nebula gas where new stars are being born.
The "ghost" of the Big Bang is the mottled reddish outer envelope, which denotes the cosmic microwave background radiation. This is the most ancient light in the universe, the 2.73 Kelvin relic or leftover radiation from the original explosion. In other words, this is what the original explosion has cooled to after some 14 billion years.
Of course, we have more than photos to establish that the reddish envelope is the Big Bang's relic imprint. We know, for example, that the ‘Big Bang’ can be obtained as a solution to one version of Einstein’s tensor equations. (The same equations that verify the theory of general relativity).
Enjoy the ghost image, and think of how small and hot the universe was (about the size of an atom) when it all began!
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