Scientists say they have discovered evidence of the “dynamite” that blew up the Big Bang.
Scientists Hear Earliest Echoes of Big Bang
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The sun sets behind BICEP2 (in the foreground) and the South Pole Telescope (in the background).
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The BICEP2 telescope's focal plane consists of 512 superconducting microwave detectors, developed and produced at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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The tiny temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (shown here as color) trace primordial density fluctuations in the early universe that seed the later growth of galaxies.
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Gravitational waves from inflation generate a faint but distinctive twisting pattern in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, known as a 'curl' or B-mode pattern.
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Graduate student Justus Brevik tests the BICEP2 readout electronics.