Cosmic Origins: The Dawn of Light @itelescopewebinars

Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

Guest Speaker: Dr. Deanna Hooper, Astrophysicist, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Summary: In this webinar, Dr. Hooper will discuss the Cosmic Microwave Background CMB.
The CMB is one of the greatest discoveries in cosmology; it is the ‘holy grail’ of cosmology. The Big Bang model predicts that in the beginning, protons, electrons, and photons were the only particles in existence in the universe. These particles continuously bumped into each other and did not allow light to travel freely. The universe was opaque. As the universe cooled down, protons and electrons combine to form hydrogen. This allowed the photons to finally travel freely. This original light has been red-shifted into the microwave spectrum. This is the CMB. The Big Bang model also predicts that this CMB is a perfect ‘black body’, i.e. it emits light at all frequencies. Both these predictions have been confirmed through different experiments.
If you are interested in cosmology and the beginning of light, this video is for you! We hope you enjoy it!

iTelescope itelescope.net

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:20 Poll Questions
6:20 The dawn of light
8:13 How did we get here… overview of CMB
10:41 1948 the Big Bang predicts CMB
16:00 1964 Penzias and Wilson
21:08 1990 COBE launches
21:45 1992 COBE … First image of the CMB
24:00 1997 BoomeRanG launches
26:50 WMAP launches
28:19 Planck launches
47:20 CMB polarization
52:00 Spectral distortions in the CMB
56:17 Future Spectral Distortion missions
1:02:59 Questions and Answers

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#cosmology

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$The Grand Design: How Large Scale Structure Illuminates Cosmology and Particle Physics Title: The Grand Design: How Large-Scale Structure Illuminates Cosmology and Particle Physics– 8-09-2024 Guest Speaker: Abbe Whitford, PhD Student, University of Queensland, Australia. Summary: In this webinar Abbe presents how large-scale structures in the universe, of the order of GPCs (giga-parsecs), can inform scientists on cosmology and the nature of particle physics. She begins by explaining that the study of large-scales structure is important to help determine the distribution of normal matter, dark matter, and the radiation of the early universe, after the big bang. Right after the big bang, the radiation domination epoch began, where most of the energy was in the form of radiation. Over time the radiation decreased, and density of matter increased. As time continued, the dark energy domination epoch began, which is believed to be driving the expansion of the universe. On the other hand, early in the universe it is believed that neutrinos stopped interacting with other particles and started flying freely. Although it was believed that these particles had no mass, now it seems that they might have a small mass. Based on the analysis presented, the mass of neutrinos might have a direct impact on the structure of the universe. If you are interested in the study of cosmology and how it might have been influenced by neutrinos, this video will be for you. We hope you enjoy it! iTelescope https://www.itelescope.net The University of Queensland Australia https://www.uq.edu.au Astrobites.com https://www.astrobites.org/author/awhitford/ Chapters 00:00- Introduction 01:28- Using the Large-scale Structure of the Universe 06:05- Why do we care about the Large-scale Structure of the Universe? 11:39- Part 1: Uncovering the nature of the Universe with the motions of galaxies. 19:07- Poll Question 1 (How fast do you think the peculiar motion can be?) 20:47- Dark Matter Field vs Normal Matter Field 26:02- Poll Question 2 (What fraction of matter do you think is just the dark matter?) 28:57- The bulk flow motions of galaxies 39:33- CosmicFlows 4 dataset 43:22- Part 2: Using the sound waves in the early Universe to understand neutrinos. 44:39- Poll Question 3 (How fast did sound waves move in the early Universe?) 46:43- Sound Waves as Bubbles or BAO’s data results 51:57- How is this related to neutrinos? And firstly, what are neutrinos? 59:36- Questions and Answers #iTelescope #astrophotography #astronomy #astro #deepsky #cosmology$

The Lives and Deaths of Galaxies in the Universe