
This issue we talk to Dr Anthony Challinor from the University of Cambridge about the Cosmic Microwave Background. We also get your astronomical questions answered by Dr Tim O'Brien.
Interview
Looking in different directions on the sky with radio telescopes we can see how the temperature of the universe is very nearly the same in all directions, but not quite identical. The fluctuations in this cosmic microwave background radiation tell us how matter was clumped together when the universe was about one thousandth its current size. Anthony Challinor describes how we've measured these fluctuations and how they are related to fluctuations on tiny scales in the very early universe.
Ask an astronomer
Nick puts listener questions to Dr Tim O'Brien. Mark asks why, if the supermassive blackhole at the centre of our galaxy is so massive, do the planets orbit the Sun rather than that blackhole. Chris Revvy asks why galaxies can collide if the universe originated from one point in the big bang and is expanding. Finally, Malcolm Powell asks how people get into astronomy as amateurs or professionals.
Show Links
Interview with Dr Anthony Challinor (University of Cambridge)
- MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NASA's COBE satellite
- NASA's WMAP satellite
- ESA's Planck spacecraft
- Cambridge Cosmology: Cosmic Microwave Radiation
- Anthony Challinor's webpage
Ask an astronomer - gravity, colliding galaxies and becoming an astronomer
- MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- Hubble Space Telescope: Cosmic Collisions Galore!
- Astronomy Picture of the Day
- M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
- Royal Astronomical Society: How to become an astronomer
- Astronomical Society of Australia: How to become an Astronomer
- American Astronomical Society: Careers in Astronomy
- Sky and Telescope magazine
- Astronomy Now magazine
- Sky at Night Magazine
- Ian Morison's guide to using and buying telescopes
- The Federation of Astronomical Societies
- Keilder Forest Observatory
- Astronomy distance learning courses at Jodrell Bank
- Astronomy distance learning courses at Liverpool John Moores University
- Astronomy distance learning courses at the University of Central Lancashire
- Astronomy distance learning courses at the Open University
- Astronomy distance learning courses at Swinburne University (Australia)
Show Credits
Interview: | Dr Anthony Challinor and Nick Rattenbury |
Ask an Astronomer: | Dr Tim O'Brien and Nick Rattenbury |
Presenters: | David Ault and Stuart Lowe |
Editors: | Stuart Lowe and Roy Smits |
Segment Presenter: | |
Website: | Stuart Lowe |
Cover art: | The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Credit: COBE/NASA |