Planck Telescope Is Coolest Spacecraft Ever

Hugh Pickens writes "Launched in May, BBC reports that Europe's Planck observatory has reached its operating temperature, a staggering minus 273.05C — just a tenth of a degree above what scientists term "absolute zero." and although laboratory set-ups have got closer to absolute zero than Planck, researchers say it is unlikely there is anywhere in space currently that is colder than their astronomical satellite. This frigidity should ensure the bolometers will be at their most sensitive as they look for variations in the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that are about a million times smaller than one degree — comparable to measuring from Earth the heat produced by a rabbit sitting on the Moon. Planck has been sent to an observation position around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2, some 1.5 million km from Earth and Planck will help provide answers to one of the most important sets of questions asked in modern science — how did the Universe begin, how did it evolve to the state we observe today, and how will it continue to evolve in the future. Planck's objectives include mapping of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies with improved sensitivity and angular resolution, determination of the Hubble constant, testing inflationary models of the early Universe, and measuring amplitude of structures in Cosmic Microwave Background. 'We will be probing regimes that have never been studied before where the physics is very, very uncertain,' says Planck investigator Professor George Efstathiou from Cambridge University. 'It's possible we could find a signature from before the Big Bang; or it's possible we could find the signature of another Universe and then we'd have experimental evidence that we are part of a multi-verse.'"

Comments

Re:Why is it so hard for people to understand?

[arminw]

...If there were universes prior to this one....

So where along the infinite progression of universes do we come in? Somewhere in there has to be a beginning, the first universe, even if we truly are one of many. Other than being distasteful to the rebellious human spirit which wants to be responsible to no one, what is the big deal of postulating an eternal being, God? The reason I said distasteful, is because as soon as we admit such a God, we feel we may be responsible to him and somehow innately feel that we don't measure up to God's standards.

The Bible says that it is appointed unto men to die once and after that comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) It is not possible to dispute the fact of death, but many people do dispute the second part of this sentence. It is the secret fear of the outcome of this judgment that causes humans with feigned certainty to deny the existence of God.

Re:rabit from the moon

[smoker2]

Dick [1]

[1] Head.

Re:Why is it so hard for people to understand?

[arminw]

...Why do you assume I'll care about what the Christian Bible says...

If the Christian Bible is true, and there is every indication that it is, you will stand before God at the judgment and then you will care. The Bible is the Word of God and is like an anvil, upon which the atheistic hammers are worn out.