The cosmic microwave background can help scientists piece together the history of the universe. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

So much happened in the earliest moments of the universe. Elementary particles appeared, the first nuclei of hydrogen and helium, and fluctuations of energy and matter set into motion the formation of ...

The Cosmic Microwave Background carries with it a record of events throughout the 13.8-billion-year history of the universe. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

The earliest galaxies may have scrambled our reading of the Universe. A new study challenges the traditional interpretation of the cosmic microwave background, this fossil light from the Big Bang.

A: In the standard Big Bang model, the universe evolved from a state in which it was extremely hot, dense, and opaque, and it has been expanding (and cooling) ever since. In the cosmos’ early history, ...

A glow undetectable to the human eye permeates the universe. This light is the remnant signature of the cosmic beginning — a dense, hot fireball that burst forth and created all mass, energy, and time ...

Erik M. Leitch of the University of Chicago explains. The Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, or CMB for short, is a faint glow of light that fills the universe, falling on Earth from every ...