COBE
LocationSpace (LEO)
Year1989
Size3 instruments
TypeSpace telescope
About COBE
The Cosmic Background Explorer. Showed that the cosmic microwave background matches a near-perfect blackbody spectrum. Detected the first tiny ripples in the afterglow of the Big Bang. The work earned John Mather and George Smoot the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics. Launched in November 1989.
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