(IMAGE)

University of Cologne

Caption

The Cosmic Microwave Background (left) was released 380,000 years after the Big Bang, and it acts as a background to all galaxies in the Universe. The starburst galaxy HFLS3 is embedded in a large cloud of cold water vapour (middle, indicated in blue), and is observed 880 million years after the Big Bang. Because of its low temperature, the water casts a dark shadow on the Microwave background (zoom-in panel on the left), corresponding to a contrast about 10,000 times stronger than its intrinsic fluctuations of only 0.001% (light/dark spots).

Credit

ESA and the Planck collaboration; zoom-in panel: Dominik Riechers, University of Cologne; image composition: Martina Markus, University of Cologne

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