cosmic background radiation

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. electromagnetic radiation coming from every direction in the universe, considered the remnant of the big bang and corresponding to the black-body radiation of 3 K, the temperature to which the universe has cooled.

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cosmic background radiation Scientific  

1. Weak radio-frequency radiation traveling through outer space with equal intensity in every direction. It is thought to be residual radiation from a period shortly following the big bang, when the universe was very hot.

2. Also called microwave background

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cosmic background radiation

This method is complemented by another method that analyzes irregularities in the so-called cosmic background radiation; an ancient form of light dating back to shortly after the Big Bang.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2023

These two scientists are standing in front of the horn-shaped antenna with which they discovered the cosmic background radiation.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

A flotilla of experiments devoted to the cause are underway, studying a thin haze of microwaves, known as cosmic background radiation, left from the Big Bang, when the cosmos was about 380,000 years old.

From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2015

Even the theory of cosmic inflation, which admittedly is a bit conjectural, has been confirmed by the shape of the cosmic background radiation, as measured by the Hubble space telescope.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2012

In detecting the cosmic background radiation, in counting quasars, in searching for intelligent signals from space, radio astronomers are dealing with amounts of energy that are barely there at all.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan