Stars/galaxies Vacuum between

2. cools & “condenses” Hot glowing smooth gas gravitationally 13.7 Billion years Now Big Bang Expansion ×1000 Stars/galaxies Vacuum between

3. 7 octaves 7 octaves 7 octaves 7 octaves 7 octaves 7 octaves 7 octaves Transpose up by ~50 octaves = 7 pianos (~7 octaves each) cosmic concerto human concerto

4. compression dim dim bright rarefaction rarefaction rarefaction bright bright dim compression compression The first sound waves • gas falls into valleys, gets compressed, & glows brighter b) it overshoots, then rebounds out, is rarefied, & gets dimmer c) it then falls back in again to make a second compression  the oscillation continues sound waves are created

6. Creation’s Opening Chord

7. Observing the Microwave Background Bell Labs (1963) COBE satellite (1992) WMAP satellite (2003)

9. expansion cooling Big Bang dense hot ionized foggy 380,000 yr 3000 K hot glowing fog us redshift z=1000 Creating the Microwave Background rarified cool Now atomic transparent we see a glowing wall of bright fog orange light microwaves

10. Big Bang Near Far Now red-shift Then Far Near Big Bang Then red-shift Now Big Bang

11. Sound Waves in the Sky NASA’s WMAP satellite The CMB Sound Spectrum sound Loudspeaker Loudness Frequency Wavelength Lower Pitch Higher Pitch Similar to water waves short plus medium plus long all mixed together The Microwave Sky

12. Cosmic Lifespan 380,000 yr 5 Time (Gyr) 10 0 14 Big Bang here now “nearby” galaxies CMB JWST HST Human lifespan Conc- eption child teenage Old age 12hr

13. C(ℓ) as observed

14. tapestry clusters galaxies stars Evolving Sound Spectra Red: atomic matter Blue: dark matter Times: 300,000 yrs; 2 and 15 million yrs. Collapse occurs when amplitude reaches top arrow.

15. 1 Million Galaxies 3 billion light years (~20% to “the edge”) Our galaxy is here