Universe may be seen in a new light by 2012

In another three years, the world will see the Universe’s splendour and its inherent majestic patterns from a completely new window when the Planck microwave observatory comes out with its results. “It will be a complete surprise. I dare not to even imagine,” Nobel laureate physicist James C Mather who first saw those grand designs two decades back, told Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress here. Mather was one of the scientists who first analysed the data collected by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) — the famous 1989 NASA satellite that provided clinching evidence in support of the Big Bang. The Universe is believed to have been originated from an enormous explosion, Big Bang, almost 13.7 billion years ago. The COBE results not only proved the all-pervasive presence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) — the relics of the Big Bang — but gave the first clue on how the universe looked like in its early days. “When we presented the results in a scientific conference in the USA, we received a standing ovation,” recounted Mather, who received the Nobel Prize for the discovery in 2006. The research on understanding the universe in its early days, however, did not stop with the COBE. Second probe In 2001, NASA launched a second probe called WMAP — Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropic Probe — to look into the baby universe up and close. It is the WMAP that helped scientists fix the universe’s age at 13.7 billion years besides providing hints towards galaxy formation. But questions still linger on how the universe cooled so rapidly within such a relatively short time creating small galaxies, which later combined to form the larger clusters. Stars like the Sun and planets such as the Earth were born from those galaxies. But scientists do not have much clue on the nitty-gritty of the formation. That is why the European Space Agency launched Planck observatory in May, 2009, to measure the CMBR with much more sensitivity. The detectors, on board, the Planck observatory are looking for variations in the temperature of the CMB that are about a million times smaller than one degree — a feat comparable to measuring from Earth the body heat of a rabbit sitting on the moon. The first light survey for the Planck observatory was completed in August, 2009, giving astronomers high hopes because of its excellent data quality. Within its operational life of 15 months, Planck will be able to gatherdata for two full, independent all-sky maps, which will be studied with great detail for two years. The results from the Planck are expected towards the end of 2012.