When was the wmap launch

To explain this mysterious force, astronomers came up with the concept of dark energy. The energy component in our model predicts that the Universe will expand forever. The Universe could be flat in all directions, with no curvature at all. Alternately, it could be spherical; meaning that like on Earth, though your immediate vicinity might look flat, when you zoom out far enough you can see the Universe is round.

Finally, the Universe could be shaped like a saddle, where it curves along one axis in one direction and the opposite way along the other axis. However, uncertainties in the measurements make it difficult to be sure if the curvature is actually zero, meaning a flat Universe, or if it actually has a slight curve in one direction or the other. WMAP ended its mission in having granted humanity a view of the Universe unlike any that had gone before.

A diagram not to scale depicting the major milestones in the evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang — around The Universe was initially in a neutral state until light from the first stars started to ionise the hydrogen. Credit: NASA. How our view of the CMB has evolved. In , WMAP was able to analyse minute temperature variations, improving detail by a factor of 70, Dark matter holds galaxies together.

After nine years of plotting the oldest light in the universe, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe has shut down. The satellite, which single-handedly helped establish the standard model of cosmology, took its last look at the cosmos Aug. WMAP launched June 30, , with the goal of sensing subtle temperature differences in the cosmic microwave background, the glow of the first atoms to release their radiation , years after the Big Bang. Since then, it has provided the most accurate measurement of the age of the universe, proved the existence of dark energy, showed that just 4 percent of the universe is made of ordinary matter and supported the idea that the universe inflated from sub-atomic scale to the size of a soccer ball in its first trillionth of a second.

Before WMAP, much of the universe's history was a blank book. Astronomers had some idea that the universe started with a Big Bang sometime between 8 billion and 20 billion years ago, and rapidly expanded after that. But they had very little notion of exactly when, or exactly how. Astronomers now know that the universe is The components of the universe were largely mysterious, too. A study of supernovas suggested in that the expansion of the universe was accelerating.

Some cosmologists blamed a mysterious substance dubbed dark energy for shoving the universe outward, but many were skeptical. By comparing computer models of what hypothetical universes with different compositions should look like to WMAP's view of the actual universe, the team of cosmologists proved that 73 percent of the universe is made of dark energy, It was just really stunning to suddenly have all this fall into place.

The first results were issued in February , with major updates in , , , , and now this final release. The mission was selected by NASA in , the result of an open competition held in It was confirmed for development in and was built and ready for launch only four years later, on-schedule and on-budget.

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Edward J. Wollack Page Updated: Monday,