By measuring how energy waves wiggle in the sky over Earth, scientists have created a way to delve into the history of our 13.8 billion-year-old universe — starting right at its"first light."The measurements made by CLASS have to do with"microwave polarization," associated with the direction in which waves of light are aligned.
"Studying the relic radiation from the beginning of the universe is critical for understanding how the entire cosmos came to be and why it is the way it is," Nigel Sharp, program director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences, which has supported CLASS for over a decade, said in the statement.
By clearly mapping the microwave sky and allowing scientists to filter out linear polarized microwaves, CLASS could improve our understanding of the physical processes that existed in the early universe. Those processes would've been capable of creating a background of circular polarization. Circular polarization happens when light behaves as a two-dimensional transverse wave; it is distinct from linear polarization microwaves.
Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.Low frequency emission has a relatively short range. I hardy believe this is old light.