About 13.8 billion years ago, the universe began with the Big Bang. At least, that’s what we think. Astrophysicist Jo Dunkley is at the forefront of efforts to figure out exactly what happened immediately after that moment of the universe’s creation, and a new telescope may help her finally answer this question.
The problem with the Big Bang is that we can’t see it directly. The best we can do is look at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), also known as the Big Bang’s afterglow. This faint radiation spreads across the sky and is a remnant of the first light to travel through the universe. Subtle patterns in this light are consistent with the conventional wisdom that the Big Bang was followed by a period called inflation, during which the universe expanded rapidly; however, this has never been proven.
Dunkley, based at Princeton University, hopes that observing the CMB in ever-more detail will help him achieve this goal, allowing him to see patterns imprinted by gravitational waves from ancient times. To get a glimpse, he plans to use the Simmons Observatory, a purpose-built telescope in Chile that will soon be operational.
Speaking about the opportunity, Dunkley said: New Scientist About her…
