[ExI] Found! The first atoms in the Universe

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Thu Nov 17 11:56:13 UTC 2011


Quote:
The brightest, most luminous objects visible in the farthest reaches
of the distant Universe are quasars, a good number of which are
visible right at the very end stages of reionization -- when light
becomes transparent to matter -- in the Universe. In a serendipitous
stroke of good luck, after 58 years of quasar spectroscopy, the above
team of Fumagalli, O'Meara and Prochaska found two clouds of pristine,
unpolluted gas from the Big Bang in the spectra of their quasars!

<http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/11/found_the_first_atoms_in_the_u.php>

So this is not only the least polluted, most pristine sample of atoms
we've ever found, it's also the newest, best test we've ever conducted
as to whether the abundances of these light elements -- from the
strength of their spectral absorption lines -- matches up with the
predictions of the Big Bang!

And that's how we found the very first atoms in the Universe, and how
they -- yet again -- proved another prediction of the Big Bang
correct!




BillK



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