Basis gegevens heelal
Analyses of a new high-resolution map of microwave light emitted only 380,000 years after the <a href="http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/b_bang.html" >Big Bang</a> appear to define <a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html">our universe</a> more precisely than ever before.
The eagerly awaited results announced last year from the orbiting <a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/tm_2.html" >Wilkinson</a> <a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/ob_tech1.html" >Microwave Anisotropy Probe</a> resolve several <a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/debate/debate.html" >long-standing disagreements</a> in <a href="http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmo_01.htm" >cosmology</a> rooted in less precise data.
Specifically, <a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/mr_limits.html" >present analyses</a> of <a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_or.html">above WMAP all-sky image</a> indicate that the universe is 13.7 billion years old (accurate to 1 percent), composed of 73 percent <a href="http://snap.lbl.gov/brochure/foreword.html" >dark energy</a>, 23 percent <a href="http://cfcp.uchicago.edu/workshops/cdm2002/">cold</a> <a href="http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/cosmology/darkmatter.html" >dark matter</a>, and only 4 percent <a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/atom.htm">atoms</a>, is currently <a href=" http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/astro/wwwlabs/hdfSize/hdfSize_intro.html" >expanding</a> at the rate of 71 km/sec/<a href=" http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/glossary.html" >Mpc</a> (accurate to 5 percent), underwent episodes of rapid expansion called <a href="http://www.biols.susx.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/cosmo.htm" >inflation</a>, and will <a href="http://cassfos02.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/Cosmology.html" >expand forever</a>.
Astronomers will likely research the <a href="ap020917.html">foundations</a> and <a href="ap011202.html">implications</a> of <a href="http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/outreach/recent_papers.cfm" >these results</a> for years to come.
