Podcast: Confounding Cosmic Questions

• By Sara Mitchell
• January 29, 2009
• Comments Off on Podcast: Confounding Cosmic Questions

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Transcript (Text, PDF)

This episode features a strange signal from deep space, which could be a plot straight out of a Hollywood film. But this radio signal was detected by a NASA mission called ARCADE, which flew above the atmosphere suspected from a balloon to capture light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the Universe. When data showed something totally unexpected, that’s when things got interesting.

We interviewed Al Kogut and Dale Fixsen about this discovery, ARCADE, and how you can also detect this mysterious radio signal from outer space with any FM radio.

ARCADE

The Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophsyics, and Diffuse Emission, or ARCADE, is a NASA mission studying radio signals that date back to the “dark ages” of the Universe. To learn more about ARCADE, its discoveries, and other balloon missions, visit:

• The ARCADE home page, which offers a variety of information, images, and more about the mission.
• NASA Balloon Mission Tunes in to a Cosmic Radio Mystery – the press release from NASA about this cosmic mystery (January 7, 2009)
• NASA’s Scientific Ballooning Program supports a variety of instruments flown on balloon payloads to study the Earth and space.
• Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) provides launch services for scientific balloons flown in Texas, Antarctica, and other locations around the world.

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