More support for Big Bang by looking through Polaroid glasses. Although the theory of the Big Bang is on pretty solid ground, there are other competing cosmological theories out there. So any observations that have the capacity to test the Big Bang theory are very welcome - but also hard to do!
Now new data is available from the Degree Angle Scale Interferometer (DASI), a big telescope near the South Pole, and it reveals just what the Big Bang model predicted.
The new data reveals that the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) is polarised.
The polarisation of the CMBR is not uniform across the sky but patches are polarised in particular directions. (See the first picture at this page for the polarisation map). The levels of polarisation are exactly those predicted by Big Bang models.
"If you had any doubts that this radiation is from the Big Bang, this should quash them," Dr Michael Turner of the University of Chicago told the New York Times.
(Read the technical paper) [David Harris: Science news]
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