Eve M. Vavagiakis on What goes into Cosmological Observations

About this episode

Eve M. Vavagiakis discusses how cosmological observations reveal the age of the universe and the technology behind them.

The universe is about 14 billion years old. Ever wondered—how do we even know the age of the universe? How can we look up at the sky and read time itself? We do this by studying the afterglow of the Big Bang, called the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)—relic radiation from the very beginning of the universe. Physicists build ultra-cold microwave telescopes—cryogenic cameras with incredibly sensitive detectors—that can spot tiny temperature changes and faint polarization, and even ...

People in this episode

Guest: Eve M. Vavagiakis

Topics covered

• cosmology
• universe
• Big Bang
• cosmic microwave background
• physics
• observations

Keywords

• cosmology
• universe age
• Big Bang
• CMBR
• microwave telescopes
• cryogenic cameras

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: cosmic microwave background radiation

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