2003 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| WMAP CAPTURES IMAGE OF INFANT UNIVERSE
"Baby Picture" Reveals Age of Universe and Recipe of the Cosmos
| G03-015 | 01/31/03 | 00:025:54 | With a sweeping 12-month observation of the entire sky, scientists using NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have created the most detailed portrait ever of the infant Universe, revealing its age and other key characteristics. This new portrait -- capturing the afterglow of the Big Bang, called the cosmic microwave background (CMB) -- pegs the age of the Universe at 13.7 billion years old. Encoded in these patterns is the much-anticipated information about the fundamental properties of the early Universe, including the era when stars first ignited.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| SECTION 1: A COSMIC "BABY PICTURE" OF THE UNIVERSE The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Full-Sky Map
ITEM (1): WMAP - Capturing the First and Oldest Light in the Universe - This is a picture of the earliest light in the Universe. The new, unprecedented full-sky picture brings into focus infinitesimal patterns that mark the seeds of what later grew into the clusters of galaxies we see today. Encoded in these patterns is the much-anticipated information about the fundamental properties of the early Universe, including the era when stars first ignited. This era is only 200 million years after the Big Bang, much earlier than many scientists thought.
ITEM (2): WMAP - Close-up - Detailed version of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Full-Sky Map.
Courtesy: NASA
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| SECTION 2: SCIENCE RESULTS
ITEM (2): Evolution - Version 1 - Zooming in on the new portrait of the infant Universe reveals how stars and galaxies formed and evolved into the vast structure we see today. Temperature fluctuations seen today in the CMB reflect density fluctuations moments after the Big Bang. Areas of slightly enhanced density had stronger gravity than low-density areas. The gravity from high-density areas "pulled back" on the background radiation, making it appear slightly cooler in those directions. This animation depicts how matter, dictated by gravity, falls into regions of higher density -- creating filaments of gas built upon unseen, underlying dark matter. As gas condensed, stars began to form. Next, a more hierarchical structure evolved, with chains of galaxies crisscrossing to form galaxy clusters and superclusters. We pan out to reveal a look back in time, from modern day to early star and galaxy formation, to the microwave background and the beginning of time.
ITEM (3): Evolution - Short Version 2
ITEM (4): Evolution - Short Version 2
ITEM (5): Evolution - Version 3
ITEM (6): Fingerprints - Theories about the evolution of the Universe make specific predictions about the extent of temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background, a pattern frozen into place 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Like a detective, the WMAP team compared the unique "fingerprint" of patterns imprinted on this ancient light with fingerprints predicted by various cosmic theories and found a match.
ITEM (7): Composition of Universe - The contents of the Universe include 4% atoms, 23% of an unknown type of dark matter, and 73% of a mysterious dark energy. WMAP measurements also shed light on the nature of the dark energy, which acts as a sort of an anti-gravity.
http://mapmac.gsfc.nasa.gov/pr/pc_images/Support/PieChartUniverse_m.jpg
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| SECTION 3: COSMOLOGY BACKGROUND MATERIAL
ITEM (8): WMAP Science Objectives - Journey to the Big Bang - WMAP was designed to capture the afterglow of the Big Bang. This animation takes the viewer backward through time to the first light in the Universe. We see: the Earth; the planets of the Solar System; and the Oort cloud beyond Pluto, thought to be where comets originate. Panning out, we see neighboring stars, nebulae, and our place in a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy and countless other galaxies. The deeper we probe, the farther back in time we look, for light from distant objects can take billions of years to reach us. We peer back to the quasar era, billions of light years from Earth, forming billions of years ago. Next we peer back into a condensation of gas forming the first stars, when the Universe was only 200,000 years. Next we see the dark ages, before starlight. Next we reach the era that WMAP observes, the moment that light breaks through the fog of the infant Universe. At the end, we observe the structure of matter and finally fade to white as we arrive at the big bang.
ITEM (9): Wavelengths - Looking for the Earliest Light - On a clear, dark night, one can see a milky band of star light that we call the Milky Way, essentially diffuse light from the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy looking along the galactic plane. That's the view in the visible wavelengths, the light that our eyes detect. Different wavelengths -- gamma ray, X ray, ultraviolet, infrared, microwave and radio -- reveal different aspects of the Universe. The first part of this sequence shows how the entire sky can be laid out flat on a map. The second part of this sequence depicts how dramatically our view of the sky changes as we move through the wavelengths like tuning a radio dial. In optical wavelengths, the band across the center is the Milky Way diffuse light. The microwave sky is astonishingly uniform. Scientists must view the sky with extreme contrast to see the subtle patterns from the earliest light in the Universe.
ITEM (10): How WMAP Works: Ripples in a Pond - Ripples resulting from tossing pebbles in a pond are affected by the size and number of the pebbles and by the viscosity of the pond water. By studying ripples in the early Universe, scientists can gain a wealth of information about the makeup of the early Universe.
ITEM (11): Measuring the Shape of the Universe - Like a lens, the shape of the Universe can bend the light that passes through it during its 13.7 billion year journey. By seeing the pattern today, we can determine the shape of the Universe -- whether it is flat, open or closed.
ITEM (12): WMAP - Channels - WMAP observes the Universe at several different microwave frequencies to allow scientists to distinguish the Cosmic Microwave Background (the first and oldest light in the Universe) from microwave light produced in our Milky Way galaxy.
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| SECTION 4: WMAP SPACECRAFT ANIMATION, LAUNCH, AND B-ROLL
ITEM (13): WMAP Animation - The WMAP spacecraft spins like a top to capture light from every part of the sky. The long conical horns on each side are shaped to receive photons that have been captured by a set of reflecting mirrors. The WMAP hardware and software were produced by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Princeton University.
ITEM (14): WMAP Journey to its L2 Orbit - WMAP took three months after its June 30, 2001, launch to reach the special Lagrange 2 orbit point where it makes its observations. WMAP is the first mission to use the stable L2 orbit as its permanent observing station.
ITEM (15): WMAP Launch - WMAP was launched on June 30, 2001, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
ITEM (16): Constructing WMAP - The WMAP Project is a partnership between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Princeton University. These scenes show WMAP's integration and testing at Goddard.
ITEM (17): WMAP Integration - B-Roll of launch process of the WMAP spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
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| SECTION 5: EXPLORING THE BACKGROUND MICROWAVE RADIATION
A Short History
ITEM (18): A Brief History of the Oldest Light in the Universe - Penzias and Wilson discovered the remnant afterglow from the big bang and were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery. COBE discovered the patterns in the afterglow. WMAP is bringing the patterns into much better focus to unveil a wealth of information about the history and fate of the Universe.
Penzias and Wilson microwave receiver - 1965
The sky viewed by Penzias and Wilson's microwave receiver - 1965
COBE spacecraft animation
COBE launch - 1989
ITEM (19): Comparison of COBE and WMAP IMAGES:
COBE's view of early Universe - 1992 (First Image)
WMAP view of early Universe - 2003 (Second Image)
Comparison of COBE (Left) WMAP (Right)
ITEM (20): Dr. David T. Wilkinson - The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe is named in honor of David Wilkinson of Princeton University, a world-renown cosmologist and WMAP team member who died in 2002.
http://mapmac.gsfc.nasa.gov/pr/pc_images/Support/Dave_Wilkinson_sm.jpg
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| SECTION 6: B-ROLL AND SOUNDBITES
ITEM (21): B-Roll of WMAP team members Dr. Charles Bennent and Dr. Lymon Page
ITEM (22): WMAP Team Member. Princeton University
ITEM (23): Interview Excerpt With Gary Hinshaw, MAP Team Member, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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