Café & Kosmos 14 March 2011

The first light in the cosmos did not come from stars — it was emitted long before the first stars were formed, about 380 000 years after the Big Bang, when the matter had cooled just enough so that the Universe became transparent. The next Café & Kosmos 14 March 2011 (note: one week later than usual because of Rosenmontag) is all about this ancient image of the Universe: what does the cosmic microwave background tells us about the Universe as a whole and the formation of the structures it contains today? 

Dr. Torsten Ensslin of the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics will present new observations obtained with the Planck satellite, launched in May 2009. The discussion will consider not only the tiny fluctuations in this background radiation, but also the many different kinds of objects  that are between us and the background and cast a “shadow” over it. In early January, the Planck collaboration presented a catalogue of 15 000 of these celestial objects, such as galaxies, quasars, radio galaxies, neighbouring galaxies and galactic dust clouds. 

The Café & Kosmos series of discussions is organised jointly by ESO, the Excellence Cluster Universe and the Max-Planck Institutes for Physics, Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics. The discussions take place on the first Monday of each month at Café Jasmin in Munich. After a brief introduction the scientists take questions from the audience and discuss current issues from the cosmos.

Please note that the Café & Kosmos events take place in German.

What: The Cosmic Microwave Background — looking back to the ancient history of the Universe
When: 14 March 2011, 19:00 until approximately 20:30 (note: this is one week later than usual because of Rosenmontag)
Where: Café Jasmin, Steinheilstrasse 20 (U2, Theresienstraße). Admission is free.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory

Read more at European Southern Observatory