Cosmology/COBE

Abbreviated abstract of an invited talk at the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Calgary, July 1993: The results from the COBE satellite are in close agreement with the predictions of the standard hot Big Bang model, suggesting that the Universe was once hot, dense and isothermal, giving a background radiation spectrum that is close to a perfect blackbody. The spectrum observed by the FIRAS instrument places strong limits on events and scenarios occurring later than 1 year after the Big Bang. The observation of intrinsic anisotropy of the microwave background by the DMR instrument provides a measurement of the magnitude of the gravitational potential fluctuations that existed at decoupling. These potential perturbations were either produced in an inflationary epoch, or else they are initial conditions dating from t = 0. The angular power spectrum of dT is compatible with the inflationary scenario. The observed amplitude of dT can be used to restrict theories of the fundamental structure of matter on micro-physical scales and at energies higher than that of the most energetic cosmic rays. The DIRBE instrument will provide greatly improved data on extragalactic IR backgrounds after the strong foreground emission is subtracted.