Radiation in the Early Universe

The right image is familiar, distant stars and galaxies fill the view. The left infrared image is the same region after all stars and galaxies were filtered out. The radiation detected and revealed by infrared photography with the Spitzer Telescope derives from huge stars and voracious black holes that dominated this early universe. Darker shades in the image on the left correspond to dimmer parts of the background glow, while yellow and white show the brightest light. The radiation is less intense in the darker regions of the image. While one billion years hardly seems to deserve the attribute 'young', it truly is 'young' on the universal time scale. Our universe is at least 15 billion years old, and the deeper we look into the sky, the farther back in time we 'see', such is the majesty of the well known red shift, the genuine, time machine of astrophysics.

Radiation in the Early Universe - Great Page at NASA with Larger Image

Stars like our sun could not form in this early universe, they are the product of later stellar evolution. Earth-like planets also did not exist in this early universe, there were no flesh and blood, DNA genome creatures back then to study, look and wonder at this majesty. This is not to say, that we are the only sentient beings looking back in time to this early universe. Assuredly there are other civilizations with such advanced astronomical science, but they and us must exist in this older, and more evolved universe.



This digital image of Radiation in the Early Universe is copyright free and in the public domain for noncommercial use. The original file is at the NASA Archives.