Starship Asterisk*

MWarnkegwg wrote:First of all, Hello all. I have been interested in astronomy and cosmetology for quite a few years. I am curious though. I wonder if you could answer a question on mine that has been rattling around in my brain for a while. Why is it that computers and calculators cannot 'divide by zero' but the universe can? Just a thought.

This historic all-sky map is based on the first two years of data from NASA's COsmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, launched in November of 1989. The map shows minute temperature variations (red is hotter) imprinted on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation by structures in the early Universe. These detailed measurements of the CMB and other COBE results ushered in an age of precision cosmology, and exactly confirmed the predictions of the Big Bang theory. Playing leading roles in the COBE project, for their resulting discoveries John C. Mather (NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center), and George F. Smoot (UC Berkeley) were selected to receive the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.

This does not cement the Big Bang theory. I would like to see other scientists comments on their findings.

Thank you for your email and interest in our work. I share your surprise that Mather and Smoot received the 2006 Nobel Prize for physics because of their very biased interpretation of the Microwave Background. Even more surprising was the fact that the “discoverers” of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), radio engineers Penzias and Wilson, also received the Nobel Prize. They did not look for CMBR, they did not know of the predictions of Gamow, when they found it, they thought (correctly) that it was just radio noise interfering with their work, and they tried to get rid of it. In fact, they at first thought it was caused by pigeon droppings in their radio antenna! Only when Peebles and Dicke from Princeton University told them of Big Bang prediction did they try to make something useful (and profitable!) out of it. From pigeon dung, the Nobel Prize!

The CMBR has been intensively investigated by both the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and more recently by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). The COBE data was inconclusive (because of low resolution) but the WMAP results are overwhelming in their challenge to Big Bang theory. Study after study (conducted independently and sometimes by arch supporters of Big Bang) have shown that it is extremely unlikely that such radiation could have come from a primal explosion. The anisotropies seen in high-resolution WMAP images indicate an astonishing correlation with local astrophysical structure, both on the ecliptic and in the galaxy. All the current evidence suggests that the microwave background is simply a benign background picture of the radiating structures that surround us.

Hilto Redcliffe emailed me this comment

Quote:
Thank you for your email and interest in our work. I share your surprise that Mather and Smoot received the 2006 Nobel Prize for physics because of their very biased interpretation of the Microwave Background. Even more surprising was the fact that the “discoverers” of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), radio engineers Penzias and Wilson, also received the Nobel Prize. They did not look for CMBR, they did not know of the predictions of Gamow, when they found it, they thought (correctly) that it was just radio noise interfering with their work, and they tried to get rid of it. In fact, they at first thought it was caused by pigeon droppings in their radio antenna! Only when Peebles and Dicke from Princeton University told them of Big Bang prediction did they try to make something useful (and profitable!) out of it. From pigeon dung, the Nobel Prize!

The CMBR has been intensively investigated by both the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and more recently by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). The COBE data was inconclusive (because of low resolution) but the WMAP results are overwhelming in their challenge to Big Bang theory. Study after study (conducted independently and sometimes by arch supporters of Big Bang) have shown that it is extremely unlikely that such radiation could have come from a primal explosion. The anisotropies seen in high-resolution WMAP images indicate an astonishing correlation with local astrophysical structure, both on the ecliptic and in the galaxy. All the current evidence suggests that the microwave background is simply a benign background picture of the radiating structures that surround us.

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Harry : Smile and live another day.