The COsmic Background Explorer (COBE), also referred to as Explorer 66, was a satellite dedicated to cosmology. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape our understanding of the cosmos.
This work provided evidence that supported the Big Bang theory of the universe: that the CMB was a near-perfect black-body spectrum and that it had very faint anisotropies. Two of COBE's principal investigators, George Smoot and John Mather, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for their work on the project. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE-project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science".
Read more about Cosmic Background Explorer: History, Spacecraft, Scientific Findings
Famous quotes containing the words cosmic, background and/or explorer:
“The new knowledge has not yet settled in culture. It has not yet been integrated in a new cosmic conception.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Well, Philippe, he died because of his work. He was like an—like an explorer in a wild country where no one had ever been before. He was searching for the truth, he almost found a great truth, but for one instant he was careless.”
—James Clavell (b. 1924)