Take a look at this baby picture of the universe
A new image reveals what the universe looked like shortly after the Big Bang

The European Space Agency on Thursday released an image that depicts what the universe looked like a mere 380,000 years after the Big Bang. While that may sound like a fair amount of time, the universe was virtually an infant then, giving scientists new insight into its origins.
Using its Planck space telescope, the ESA was able to compose a map from the "Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, the ambient thermal radiation that's left over from the birth of the universe," says Scott Neuman at NPR. Think of it as the Big Bang's "afterglow" or "heat map." It is considered the oldest light in our universe, and it has left its imprint on the Earth's sky. This is how it works, according to ESA:
At that time, the young Universe was filled with a hot dense soup of interacting protons, electrons, and photons at about 2700ºC. When the protons and electrons joined to form hydrogen atoms, the light was set free. As the Universe has expanded, this light today has been stretched out to microwave wavelengths, equivalent to a temperature of just 2.7 degrees above absolute zero. [ESA]
But the image is more than just a pretty picture. The map shows that the universe is actually 13.82 billion years old, which is about 80 million to 100 million years older than previous estimates. It contains more dark matter — the mysterious glue that holds the universe together — than previously thought. The image also shows less dark energy — the mysterious force that theoretically causes the universe to expand.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The map has also raised some new questions about the universe, according to Dennis Overbye at The New York Times:
Within the standard cosmological framework, however, the new satellite data underscored the existence of puzzling anomalies that may yet lead theorists back to the drawing board. The universe appears to be slightly lumpier, with bigger and more hot and cold spots in the northern half of the sky as seen from Earth than toward the south, for example. And there is a large, unexplained cool spot in the northern hemisphere. [New York Times]
However, the image largely affirms scientists' previous theories about the universe and its creation, even if our picture of the Big Bang is still very much incomplete. "You can see the seeds from which galaxies were coming," said ESA chief Jean Jacques Dordain. "Planck reveals an almost perfect universe."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Javier Milei's memecoin scandal
Under The Radar Argentinian president is facing impeachment calls and fraud accusations
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Who is actually running DOGE?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The White House said in a court filing that Elon Musk isn't the official head of Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency task force, raising questions about just who is overseeing DOGE's federal blitzkrieg
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How does the Kennedy Center work?
The Explainer The D.C. institution has become a cultural touchstone. Why did Trump take over?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published