This image shows the first measurements of the so-called Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Astronomers combined data from ALMAs 7- and 12-m antennas to produce the sharpest possible image of RX J1347.51145, the center of which shows up here in the dark hole in the ALMA observations. The energy distribution of the CMB photons shifts and appears as a temperature decrease at the wavelength observed by ALMA, hence a dark patch is observed in this image at the location of the cluster. The optical image of RX J1347.51145 was taken with Hubble. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / T. Kitayama, Toho University / ALMA.

The events surrounding the Big Bang were so cataclysmic that they left an indelible imprint on the fabric of the cosmos.

Astronomers can detect these scars today by observing the oldest light in the Universe.

As it was created nearly 14 billion years ago, this light which exists now as weak microwave radiation and is thus named the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has now expanded to permeate the entire cosmos, filling it with detectable photons.

The CMB can be used to probe the cosmos via the SZE, which was first observed in 1983.

Scientists detect the CMB here on Earth when its constituent microwave photons travel to our planet through space.

On their journey to Earth, they can pass through galaxy clusters that contain high-energy electrons. These electrons give the photons a tiny boost of energy.

Detecting these boosted photons through our telescopes is challenging but important they can help astronomers to understand some of the fundamental properties of the Universe, such as the location and distribution of dense galaxy clusters.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed RX J1347.51145, a giant cluster of galaxies approximately 5 billion light-years from Earth, as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble.

This observation helped the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the CMB using the thermal SZE (blue-purple hues).

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This article is based on a press-release from NASA.

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Astronomers Use ALMA to Hunt for Universe's Oldest Light - Sci-News.com