64  Microwave Background Radiation
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The cosmic microwave background radiation coming to us from all directions in space is much more uniform than would be expected on the basis of the big bang theory. This means that a equalization of the heat must have occurred immediately after the big bang. However, this was not possible because the theory purports that the rate of expansion during the inflation phase was greater than the speed of light. Since the universe is allegedly not more than 15 billion years old, there would not have been enough time left for heat equalization in the outermost regions (located 30 billion light years apart).


In 1926, Sir Arthur Eddington argued that all celestial bodies are bathed in star light and that interstellar space must therefore have a temperature of approx. 3°K (-270°C) (1). After him, George Gamow interpreted this cosmic background radiation as an after-glow from the big bang. He calculated a figure of 5°K (-268°C). In 1961, he revised his figures predicting 50°K (2). In 1964, the two astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson finely measured a temperature of 2.7°K.

Later, NASA constructed a special satellite to map the entire cosmos using microwave background radiation. According to the big bang theory, the irregularities in the expansion of hydrogen and helium should have resulted in the large structures in the universe. However, the satellite’s instruments proved to be too insensitive to measure any differences at all.

Then, a new satellite was built equipped with instruments which were 30 times more sensitive. Subtle differences were, in fact, then noted. However, unpleasant surprises were also found. For example, it was found that the cosmos has a north and south pole and an Equator (3). This, for its part, could mean that the universe has a center and that we are close to this center. In the big bang model, these results could not be understood because it is assumed that the universe does not have a center.

Moreover, the astronomer Tom Van Flandern believes that the absorption of microwaves in intergalactic medium and the absence of the effects of gravitational lenses contradict the big bang model (4).

Considering the erroneous predictions of the big bang theory (the exceptional uniform structure of microwave background radiation) and the alternative interpretations of the microwave background, it is necessary to critically consider the big bang theory in its entirety.


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References:

(1) Arthur S. Eddington, The Internal Constitution of the Stars, New York: Dover Publications, 1926, republished 1959, P. 371.
(2) Tom Van Flandern, The Top 30 Problems with the Big Bang, Apeiron, 9(2) 2002, P. 72–90.
(3) David Whitehouse, Map Reveals Strange Cosmos, BBC News, 3. März 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2814947.stm .
(4) Tom Van Flandern, Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1993, P. 100–107.
 
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