Begging

Here’s the Cool Story of the Day. . .

NASA released what it called the most vivid snapshot of the infant universe ever taken, capturing such stunning detail that it may be one of the most significant scientific achievements of recent years.

Evidence that answers long-standing questions about the age, composition and evolution of the universe was gathered by scientists using NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a satellite orbiting 1 million miles from Earth, during a 12-month observation of the entire sky.

“This picture of the early universe is a gold mine,” Charles Bennett, WMAP principal investigator at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration released the picture Tuesday. “The patterns in the picture tell us all kinds of things about the universe.”

. . .but does anyone have a picture I can post?

UPDATE: Forget the picture. Thanks to Spoons, we have video. (Caution: This is a Quicktime download.)