EXPLANATION: Analyses of a new high-resolution map of microwave light
emitted only 380,000 years after the BIG BANG appear to define our
universe more precisely than ever before. The eagerly awaited results
announced last year from the orbiting "Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe" [WMAP] resolve several long-standing disagreements in cosmology.
Present analyses of the below WMAP all-sky image indicate that the
universe is 13.7 BILLION years old (ACCURATE to 1%), composed of 73%
DARK ENERGY, 23% cold DARK MATTER -- and only 4% atoms -- is currently
expanding at the rate of 71 km/sec/Mpc (accurate to 5%), underwent episodes of rapid expansion called INFLATION, and will EXPAND FOREVER.
2005 © Credit: WMAP Science Team, NASA
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