Space missions and ground-based experiments that probe the cosmic microwave background and the early universe’s evolution.
How three pioneering space missions turned the cosmic microwave background into a precision map of the infant universe, from COBE’s first detection of primordial ripples to WMAP’s standard model and Planck’s high-resolution confirmation.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revolutionized our view of the first billion years of cosmic history. This guide explains the key epochs from the Planck era to reionization, the role of the cosmic microwave background, and how JWST’s infrared eyes reveal the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
The Simons Observatory is a next-generation cosmic microwave background experiment in the Atacama Desert, designed to probe the earliest moments of the universe—from inflation to the formation of the first stars and galaxies. Using a suite of small and large aperture telescopes, it maps the oldest light in the cosmos with unprecedented precision, targeting questions about the universe’s origin, composition, and evolution.
The Planck space telescope mapped the cosmic microwave background with unprecedented precision, revealing the universe’s age, composition, and evolution. Its observations refined the standard cosmological model, measured key parameters like the Hubble constant, and provided a detailed picture of the early universe from the Planck epoch to the present day.
SPHEREx is a NASA near-infrared space observatory that will map the entire sky in 102 colors, gathering spectra of over 450 million galaxies to probe cosmic inflation, the history of galaxy formation, and the abundance of water and organic ices in planet-forming regions.
Learn how NASA’s SPHEREx mission will map the sky in 102 infrared colors to test the theory of cosmic inflation, probing the universe’s first moments and the seeds of all structure.
