NASA releases universe study data

Published: March. 10, 2008 at 11:43 AM

GREENBELT, Md., March 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency has released five years of data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, refining the understanding of the universe.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the new data provide three major discoveries: evidence that a sea of cosmic neutrinos permeates the universe, the first stars took more than a half-billion years to create a cosmic fog, and suggest tight new constraints on the burst of expansion in the universe's first trillionth of a second of existence.

"We are living in an extraordinary time," said Gary Hinshaw of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Ours is the first generation in human history to make such detailed and far-reaching measurements of our universe."

WMAP measures a remnant of the early universe -- its oldest light -- that lost energy as the universe expanded during more than 13.7 billion years. WMAP now sees that light as microwaves. By making accurate measurements of microwave patterns, WMAP has answered many longstanding questions about the universe's age, composition and development.

The five-year WMAP data are included in a set of seven scientific papers submitted for publication to the Astrophysical Journal.

Additional information is available at http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/index.html.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Thanksgiving can be challenge for seniors (30 min)
Michigan lawmaker seeks official tartan (32 min)
Economist: China should give yuan a boost (34 min)
London police explode illegally parked car (49 min)
Chinese drywall linked to corrosion (59 min)
Police: Teen broke window to find snacks
Last STS-129 spacewalk is completed
fark
Grandparents are cool because they let you do things mom and dad won't. Like, say, hanging onto...
Today's most incoherent actual headline: "Trooper fired after hat fib wants back in"
Photoshop this held horse
How the Resale Subculture drives Black Friday, why Cyber Monday is a hoax, and some of Fark's favorite...
Under the new administration, sex slavery for the mentally handicapped is no longer on the list...
Van carrying cheerleaders flips, twirls, spins and splits on the interstate