ESA Euronews: Planck maps the dawn of time
Scientists have traced a unique new map of the first light of the universe, and raised profound questions about the Big Bang.The image of the cosmic microwave background they have released was taken by ESA’s Planck satellite, and its results could have a significant impact on the field of cosmology.
“It turns that most of this image, most of this map, fits beautifully our very simple model. At the same time we find some strange things, and this is where it starts to get interesting, because we see some signs of things that do not fit,” explains ESA’s Planck Project Scientist Jan Tauber.
“Roughly speaking the things that we are finding that are not as we expect are features that are across the whole sky. When you look only at the large features on this map you find that that our best fitting model, our best theory has a problem fitting the data, there is a lack of signal that we would expect to see,” he says.
The news that the early universe is not quite as was thought has left the greatest minds in cosmology spinning with excitement.
George Efstathiou, Professor of Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, is a key member of the Planck Science Team.
“The idea that you can actually experimentally test what happened at the Big Bang still amazes me,” he says.
The Big Bang theory remains intact of course, but the concept of inflation could be put to test by the Planck data.
“We see these strange patterns that are not expected in inflationary theory, the simplest inflationary theories,” explains Efstathiou.
“So there’s a real possibility that we have an incomplete picture. It may be that we have been fooled, that inflation didn’t happen. It’s perfectly possible that there was some phase of the universe before the Big Bang actually happened where you can track the history of the universe to a pre-Big Bang period.”
The Planck mission could test ideas about how the early universe was formed.The puzzle is that at small scales the data fits the theoretical model very nicely, but at larger scales the signal from the cosmic microwave background is much weaker than expected.
Efstathiou is looking for answers: “Can we find a theoretical explanation that links together the different phenomena that we have seen, the different little discrepancies, with inflationary theory? That’s where there’s the potential for a paradigm shift, because at the moment there’s no obvious theoretical explanation that links together these anomalies that we have seen. But if you found a theory that links phenomena that were previously unrelated, then that’s a pointer to new physics.”
It appears that the audacious Planck mission really will shed new light on the dawn of time.
That's the thing about arrogance! It is the greatest enemy of True Reason, of Serious Scientific Inquiry, and ultimately of all Humanity! Non-arrogant Scientists are multi-disciplinary and insatiably inquisitive. In terms of Infinity; where are you ( or all of us ) actually located? And what really happens to your sense of being once your vessel succumbs to the wear & tear of gravity, friction and radiation?? You know so little. And I'm not wasting time: I write these comments for other people!
The set of non-arrogant scientists includes single-disciplinary scientists.
In terms of infinity we're all located on Earth.
When my vessel succumbs to the wear & tear of gravity, friction and radiation I replace its brake pads.
I'm glad you support Plasma Cosmology. Like York City it needs the support.
I cannot see Mont Blanc from my home.
Can you hear the taste of one hand seeing?
Do you ever think about thinking about infinity?
And what are electrons really?
Do not watch my videos.
Asimov and I spent almost 50 minutes talking, one on one, to one-another. And now I bid you adieu. Enjoy yourself.
I have already watched at least one of your videos. You are powerless to stop me. Bwha-ha-ha-h … no, wait. You could remove them. Apart from your power to remove your videos you are powerless to stop me. Bwha-ha-ha-ha.
Also – what about brainwaves?
Mindenki maskepp csinalja.
I wish there was a higher information content in this video. They could have spent more than 10 seconds talking about features in the map. Instead, there was a lot of walking down halls and stairs.
a being of the fourth dimension surpassed the speed of light and entered throug the cosmic microwave backround at one point ! lol
I'm thinking dark energy forming matter and energy as the Universe expands, but continuing forever because it's like an even field in space which increases in strength as space increases in size. Only requires 3 dimensions of space.