COBE Images

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft is the predecessor to the WMAP Project. COBE was assembled in clean rooms at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was launched in 1989 by NASA into an Earth orbit to make a full sky map of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, leftover from the Big Bang. The cone shield protects the instruments from microwave signal interference from the Earth, Sun and Moon.

Credit: NASA / COBE Science Team

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