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An intensive program of microwave background observations is currently underway at OVRO using the 40-meter (130-foot) telescope. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe began some 15 billion years ago with an enormous explosion of primeval matter, and has been expanding and cooling ever since. The remnant heat radiation of this explosion can now be detected as very weak radio noise coming from all directions in space. A fundamental problem is how the once homogeneous, expanding gas gave rise to the current, lumpy distribution of stars and galaxies. Observations of this "microwave background" provide information about the conditions of the early universe and help determine how the original expanding ball of gas condensed into the celestial bodies we see today.
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White Mountain Trip 2004
