ET Scientists detect an echo of the Big Bang
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

SCIENTISTS have heard an echo of the Big Bang, the start of the universe. The vast ripples of matter left in the wake of creation an estimated 12 billion years ago were found by a team from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maine.

These "acoustic oscillations" are akin to the effect of raindrops falling on a pond. Dr Christopher Miller, lead author of the paper, published in Science, said: "It is fair to say that this is the deepest boom ever observed."

He said: "A true echo of the Big Bang is a good way to look at it." This is the first published evidence that links the existence of acoustic oscillations, or wiggles, in the distribution of both the microwave radiation and the matter throughout the universe.

These acoustic "waves" were first found in the cosmic microwave background radiation, generated when the cosmos was a mere 300,000 years old. Dr Miller said: "Now, with the discovery of these oscillations in the matter, we have a direct connection between the universe today and the universe as it was over 10 billion years ago."

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2001