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1965 Cosmic Times

This poster is the fourth edition of Cosmic Times, with the publication date chosen to coincide with the discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)   the remnant radiation from very early in the Universe. This new discovery clearly makes the Big Bang the lead theory on the origin of the Universe. The realm of astronomy has grown, with the addition of observations of X-rays from outside the Solar System, and, indeed, outside of the Galaxy. Astronomers are also in active pursuit of invisible dark matter that must be present to hold galaxies together.

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• Teacher's Guide to the 1965 articles
• 1965 Lessons

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1965 Article Overview

Age of Universe: 10-25 Billion Years
Size of Universe: 25 Billion Light Years

Article	Thread	Summary
Murmer of a Bang	Expanding Universe	Two astronomers discover the remnant radiation from the Big Bang while trying to characterize the sources of noise in a radio antenna they wished to use for astronomical observations.
Big Hiss Missed by Others	--	The signature of the remnant radiation from the Big Bang could have been found by others, if they had known where to look, but Penzias and Wilson had just the right set of circumstances to make the discovery.
Cosmic X-ray sources Found Outside the Galaxy	--	Astronomers continue to look at the Universe in a different light, this time in the X-ray. This article discusses the discovery of two sources that shine in X-ray, both thought to lie beyond our Galaxy.
Quasars: Express Trains to the Netherworld	Size of the Universe	At the edge of the Universe, astronomers are finding objects called quasars, originally for the term quasi-stellar objects. The nature of quasars is unknown in 1965, but it is clear that they lie at large distances, and so must be very old.
Galaxies Still Misbehaving	--	Recent observations have made it clear that there is more matter contained in galaxies than astronomers can easily account for. This leads to the idea of dark matter.

1965 Lesson Overview

Activity	Summary	Grade		Discipline
		MS	HS
Reading Strategies	Students learn several reading strategies that can be used to understand the Cosmic Times materials, and other readings that may be challenging to them.	x	x	Multi-disciplinary
Cosmic Microwave Background	Students explore the cosmic microwave background to understand why it permeates the Universe and why it peaks as microwave radiation.		x	Physics, Astronomy
Tornadoes and Galaxies	Students study how the Doppler effect helps scientists study both tornadoes and galaxies.	x	x	Physics, Astronomy
What's the Matter?	Students explore the density of substances as a model for understanding how astronomers have come to find the existence of dark matter.	x	x	Physics, Astronomy