On January 22nd, the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium was thrilled to welcome Dr. Huei Sears, Postdoctoral Associate in Astrophysics at Rutgers University, for our latest Space Talk “Hello, It's Me: Exploring the CMB With Help from Adele.”

Our Universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old, and it is the work of astronomers like Dr. Sears to help us understand how it began and how it has changed over time. Our best theory to explain the beginning of the Universe is that it began as a single extremely hot, dense point in space. Then, 13.8 billion years ago, space itself began expanding in an event we call The Big Bang. Unfortunately we are not able to see all the way back to the beginning, but there is something we can observe from when the Universe was just 380,000 years old – the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is the oldest light in the Universe, emitted as soon as the Universe had cooled down just enough for light to begin freely traveling through it.

Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

The CMB as seen by Planck. The CMB is the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when it was just 380,000 years old. In this observation we can see tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure of the Universe.

Using the largest planetarium in the country, Dr. Sears was able to show us incredible observations of the CMB, starting with its discovery in Holmdel, New Jersey to our most recent observations from the Planck Observatory, exploring how the CMB helps us study the Big Bang. Dr. Sears wrapped up with an indepth lyrical analysis about how the song “Hello” by Adele could also be about the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Join us on February 26, 2026 for our next Space Talk where we will welcome Dr. Joshua Lovell, CfA Fellow Postdoctoral associate at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard-Smithsonian to explore the formations of Solar Systems!