# Early photo of universe from 1960s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114 "2014-04-27T13:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/1 "2014-04-27T13:49:43Z")
I’m drawing a blank on this, but in one of the [Connections 2](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370117/) episodes, James Burke recounted someone who made a backyard radiotelescope with some chicken wire and made one of the first photos of “the universe” showing (cosmic background radiation?) I’m drawing a blank on the person and can’t find the exact photo, and I may be mixing up some details. I thought it might have been Penzias and Wilson, but their contraption seemed a little more high tech than what he described. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/2 "2014-04-27T14:50:30Z")
It couldn’t have been before 1964, since cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered in that year: > **[Cosmic microwave background](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation)** > > The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. It is a remnant that provides an important source of data on the primordial universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope detects a faint background glow that is almost uniform and is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strong CM... ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/3 "2014-04-27T15:02:26Z")
Probably talking about [Karl Jansky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Guthe_Jansky), the first radio astronomer. Like Penzias and Wilson, this work was done at Bell Labs. He was not seeing the cosmic background radiation, that work came much later. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/4 "2014-04-27T15:40:24Z")
Thank you! That’s the one I’m remembering. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/5 "2014-10-08T02:10:49Z")
Ha! [Found the ep on youtube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fowMY_9ilg) The amateur astronomer who actually made the first crude radiotelescope was [Grote Reber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grote_Reber). (And my memory was slightly off–it was just the Milky Way!) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-photo-of-universe-from-1960s/687114/6 "2014-10-08T02:18:02Z")
Also, it was the 1930s, so Reber didn’t actually image the background radiation that James Burke held up for demonstration, as that would happen several decades later.