# Presentation: 095804

## From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize: Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and Beyond 

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- From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize: Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and Beyond

- Goddard Space Flight Center Lecture
- John Mather
- Nov. 21, 2006

## Astronomical Search For Origins

- Big Bang

- First Galaxies

- Galaxies Evolve

- Stars

- Planets

- Life

## Looking Back in Time

**Looking Back in Time**

## Measuring Distance

**Measuring Distance**

- This technique enables measurement of enormous distances

## Astronomer's Toolbox #2:Doppler Shift - Light

- Astronomer's Toolbox #2:Doppler Shift - Light

- Atoms emit light at discrete wavelengths that can be seen with a spectroscope
- This “line spectrum” identifies the atom and its velocity

## Galaxies attract each other, so the expansion should be slowing down -- Right??

**Galaxies attract each other, so the expansion should be slowing down -- Right??**

- To tell, we need to compare the velocity we measure on nearby galaxies to ones at very high redshift.
- In other words, we need to extend Hubble’s velocity vs distance plot to much greater distances.

## Nobel Prize Press Release

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- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2006 jointly to **John C. Mather, **NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, and **George F. Smoot, **University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA *"for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation"*.

## The Power of Thought

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- Robert Herman & Ralph Alpher

- Georges Lemaitre & Albert Einstein

- George Gamow

- Rashid Sunyaev

- Jim Peebles

## Power of Hardware - CMB Spectrum

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- Paul Richards

- Mike Werner

- Frank Low

- David Woody

- Herb Gush

- Rai Weiss

## Brief COBE History

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- 1965, CMB announced - Penzias & Wilson; Dicke, Peebles, Roll, & Wilkinson
- 1974, NASA AO for Explorers: ~ 150 proposals, including:
- JPL anisotropy proposal (Gulkis, Janssen...)
- Berkeley anisotropy proposal (Alvarez, Smoot...)
- Goddard/MIT/Princeton COBE proposal (Hauser, Mather, Muehlner, Silverberg, Thaddeus, Weiss, Wilkinson)

## COBE History (2)

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- 1976, Mission Definition Science Team selected by HQ (Nancy Boggess, Program Scientist); PI’s chosen
- ~ 1979, decision to build COBE in-house at GSFC
- 1982, approval to construct for flight
- 1986, Challenger explosion, start COBE redesign for Delta launch
- 1989, Nov. 18, launch
- 1990, first spectrum results; helium ends in 10 mo
- 1992, first anisotropy results
- 1994, end operations
- 1998, major cosmic IR background results

## Starting COBE

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- _Pat_ Thaddeus

- _John_ & Jane Mather

- _Dave_ & Eunice Wilkinson

- _Mike_ & Deanna Hauser

- _Rai_ & Becky Weiss

- _George_ Smoot

- _Sam_ & Margie Gulkis, _Mike_ & Sandie Janssen

## COBE Science Team

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- _Chuck_ & Renee Bennett

- _Tom_ & Ann Kelsall

- _Nancy_ & Al Boggess

- _Eli_ & Florence Dwek

- _Ed_ & Tammy Cheng

- _Philip_ & Georganne Lubin

## COBE Science Team

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- _Tom_ & Jeanne Murdock

- _Ned_ & Pat Wright

- _Steve_ & Sharon Meyer

- _Bob_ & Beverly Silverberg

- _Rick_ & Gwen Shafer

- _Harvey_ & Sarah Moseley

## COBE Engineering Leadership

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- Back row: Bill Hoggard, Herb Mittelman, Joe Turtil, Bob Sanford
- Middle row: Don Crosby, *Roger Mattson*, Irene Ferber, Maureen Menton
- Front row: Jeff Greenwell, Ernie Doutrich, Bob Schools, Mike Roberto

## COBE Engineering Leadership

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- Back row: *Dennis McCarthy*, Bob Maichle, Loren Linstrom, Jack Peddicord
- Middle row: Lee Smith, Dave Gilman, Steve Leete, Tony Fragomeni
- Front row: Earle Young, Chuck Katz, Bernie Klein, John Wolfgang

## COBE Satellite, 1989-1994

- COBE in orbit, 1989-1994

*Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer*

*John Mather*
*Rick Shafer*
*Bob Maichle*
*Mike Roberto*

## Calibrator (Eccosorb) on arm, before insulation, attached to parabolic concentrator

## Based on 9 minutes of data

- Presented at AAS, January 1990

## Current estimate: T = 2.725 +/- 0.001 KNew technology could reduce residuals 2 orders of magnitude?

- Current estimate: T = 2.725 +/- 0.001 KNew technology could reduce residuals 2 orders of magnitude?

## Confirming the Big Bang Theory

-  Hot Big Bang theory is right
-  No extra energy released after the first year
-  No exotic events like turbulent motion

## Slide 23

## George Smoot

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*Differential Microwave Radiometers*

*George Smoot*
*Chuck Bennett*
*Bernie Klein*
*Steve Leete*

## 31.4 GHz

***31.4 GHz***

## Sky map from DMR, 2.7 K +/- 0.003 K

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- Doppler Effect of Earth’s motion removed (v/c = 0.001)

- Cosmic temperature/density variations at 389,000 years, +/- 0.00003 K

## COBE Map of CMB Fluctuations2.725 K +/- ~ 30 μK rms, 7o beam

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- COBE Map of CMB Fluctuations2.725 K +/- ~ 30 μK rms, 7o beam

## DIRBE (Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment)

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- Map entire sky in 10 bands from 1.2 to 240 μm
- Measure, understand, and subtract for zodiacal and galactic foregrounds
- Determine small residual from early universe, primeval galaxies, etc.
- Requires absolute calibration

## Mike Hauser

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*Mike Hauser*
*Tom Kelsall*
*Don Crosby*
*Loren Linstrom*

## DIRBE Test Unit Hardware

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## <footer>

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## DIRBE far IR (100, 140, 240 μm) Sky Modeling

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## COBE Cosmology

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- CMB has blackbody spectrum, F/Fmax <50 ppm. Strong limits, about 0.01%, on energy conversion (from turbulence, unstable particles, etc.) after t = 1 year. No good explanation besides Hot Big Bang.
- CMB has spatial structure, 0.001% on scales > 7o, consistent with scale-invariant predictions and inflation, dark matter and dark energy or  constant, and formation of galaxies and clusters by gravity.
- CIBR has 2 parts, near (few microns) and far (few hundred microns), each with brightness comparable to the known luminosity of visible & near IR galaxies: L of universe is ~ double expected value.

## WMAP

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- Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
- Chuck Bennett, PI
- Goddard & Princeton team
- Launched in 2001

## The Universe at age 389,000 years

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**The Universe at age 389,000 years**

- Galactic Plane

## Slide 36

## CMB Angular Power Spectrum

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## Planck Mission - ESA-led with NASA contributions, for 2008 launch

- Higher spatial resolution and sensitivity than WMAP, with shorter wavelengths

## James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

## Summary of JWST

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- Deployable infrared telescope with 6.5 meter diameter segmented adjustable primary mirror
- Cryogenic temperature telescope and 4 instruments for infrared performance, covering 0.6 to 29 μm
- Launch June 2013 on an ESA-supplied Ariane 5 rocket  to Sun-Earth L2: 1.5 million km away in deep space (needed for cooling)
- 5-year science mission (10-year goal)

## James Webb Space Telescope

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- Mission Lead:  Goddard Space Flight Center
- International collaboration with ESA & CSA
- Prime Contractor: Northrop Grumman Space Technology
- Instruments:
- Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) – Univ. of Arizona
- Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) – ESA
- Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) – JPL/ESA
- Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) – CSA
- Operations:  Space Telescope Science Institute

## Four Scientific Themes

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- First objects formed after Big Bang
- Super-stars?
- Super-supernovae?
- Black holes?
- Assembly of galaxies (from small pieces?)
- Formation of stars and planetary systems
- Hidden in dust clouds
- Planetary systems and conditions for life

## JWST Science Objectives versus Cosmic History

**JWST Science Objectives versus Cosmic History**

- Now

- Big Bang

- Particle Physics

- Atoms & Radiation

- Star & Planet Formation

- 389,000 years

- 3 minutes

- 1 billion years

- 13.7 billion years

- 200 million years

## End of the dark ages: first light?

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## The Eagle Nebulaas seen with Hubble

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- The Eagle Nebula as seen by HST

- The Eagle Nebulaas seen with Hubble

## The Eagle Nebulaas seen in the infrared

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- The Eagle Nebulaas seen in the infrared

## Birth of stars and protoplanetary systems

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- Stars in dust disks in Orion

## Planetary systems and the origins of life

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## HST characterizes transiting planets; so will JWST

**HST: planet transits star**

## Chemistry of Transiting Planets

## ... Big Questions, Ripe to Answer

***What happened before the Big Bang?***
***What’s at the center of a black hole?***
***How did we get here?***
***What is our cosmic destiny?***
***What are space and time?***

**... ****Big Questions, Ripe to Answer**