The cosmic microwave background radiation comes from

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks about the origin of the cosmic microwave background radiation, so we must evaluate each option in terms of its cosmological significance.
Option a: radio galaxies. While radio galaxies are powerful sources of radio waves, they are not the source of the pervasive, nearly uniform microwave background radiation observed across the sky. Their emissions are localized, energetic events, not the all-sky relic radiation.
Option b: the solar nebula. The solar nebula is a disk of gas and dust from which the Solar System formed. It is not related to the universal microwave background; the CMB is a cosmological signal that predates star and planet formation by many orders of magnitude.
Option c: the Big Bang. This choice aligns with the standard cosmological model: the CMB is the afterglow of the hot, dense early universe, stretched to microwave wavelengths by cosmic expansion. It is a near-uniform relic from roughly 380,000 years after the Big Bang when photons decoupled from matter.
Option d: quasars. Quasars are extremely luminous active galactic nuclei emitting across a broad spectrum, but they are discrete sources and do not account for the uniform, diffuse background radiation that characterizes the CMB.
In summary, options a, b, and d describe specific astrophysical objects or processes that cannot explain the widespread, isotropic microwave relic. The Big Bang origin in option c provides the cosmological explanation for the cosmic microwave background radiation, reflecting the early universe’s conditions and subsequent expansion.

ASTR 350 ONL FA25: Big Bang,Black Holes,Universe (Liu, X)

The cosmic microwave background radiation comes from

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