‘Spider’ telescope may tell us how the universe was born

Meet SPIDER – six telescopes bolted together and attached to a giant helium balloon, which may one day tell us how the universe was born.

Scientists believe that when the Big Bang happened, a kind of signature was left in the form of a specific wavelength of light that still travels through the universe, leaving unique patterns. SPIDER will search for those patterns, providing a “huge direct clue of the first tiny, tiny fraction of a second in the history of our universe,” said UBC scientist Mark Halpern, a member of the SPIDER team.

A similar story appeared in the Vancouver Courier.