Precision Cosmology (COBE to Planck)
COBE (1992), WMAP (2003) and Planck (2013) map the ripples of the cosmic microwave background and fix the universe's age at 13.8 billion years and its makeup: about 5% atoms, 27% dark matter, 68% dark energy.
Open in the interactive tree →COBE (launched 1989) found temperature ripples of about one part in 100,000 in the 2.7 K radiation, announced on 23 April 1992, and a near-perfect blackbody spectrum (Nobel Prize 2006 for Mather and Smoot). WMAP (launched 2001) gave in 2003 an age of 13.7 +/- 0.2 billion years and a flat universe. Planck (launched 2009) published its maps in March 2013 (age 13.798 +/- 0.037 billion years) and its final results in 2018 (Hubble constant 67.4 +/- 0.5 km/s/Mpc). Six numbers fitted to these maps define the standard model of cosmology, the yardstick for every later question about dark matter, dark energy and the Hubble tension.
Prerequisites
- Cosmic Microwave Background1964The satellites map the radiation that Penzias and Wilson found
- Accelerating Universe1998CMB maps plus the supernova result fix how much dark energy there is
Unlocks
- DESI Survey: Is Dark Energy Changing?2025DESI results are fitted together with CMB maps
- Dark Energy & Hubble TensionopenThe CMB value of the Hubble constant is one side of the Hubble tension
- Dark MatteropenThe 27% dark-matter share comes from the CMB fit