Cosmic Background Radiation -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics

The redshifted radiation from the Big Bang which is observed to be nearly isotropic. It was first unambiguously detected by Penzias

(1979) and Robert Wilson

(1979) in the microwave at a brightness temperature of

K. However, evidence for a 3 K background had been seen in the optical and submillimeter by noting excitation of CN rotation states at 3874 Å and 1.32 mm. The temperature require to produce the observed excitation was

K. The COBE satellite measured the temperature to be 2.735 K ± 12

K, with variations of ± 30

Mandolesi; Nazzareno; and Vittorio, N. (Eds.). The Cosmic Microwave Background, 25 Years Later: Proceedings of a Meeting on 'The Cosmic Microwave Background, 25 Years Later,' Held in L'Aquila, Italy, June 19-23, 1989. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1990.

Partridge, R. B. 3K: The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Penzias, A. A. Science 205, 549, 1979.

Sanz, J. L.; Martinez-Gonzalez, E.; and Cayon, L. (Eds.). Present and Future of the Cosmic Microwave Background: Proceedings of the Workshop Held in Santander, Spain, 28 June-1 July 1993. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994.

Weisstein, E. W. "Books about Cosmic Background Radiation." http://www.ericweisstein.com/encyclopedias/books/CosmicBackgroundRadiation.html.

Wilson, R. W. "The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation." Science 205, 866-874, 1979.