(July 6, 2012 at 6:48 pm)Chuck Wrote: If you are dropped into the universe right after recombination and somehow survive, no matter which direction you look, the whole universe would be a uniform brilliant yellowish white, whiter and more intense per unit area than the filament of a incandescent light bulb, although not quite as bright or white as the surface of the sun. It's not just some of the photons. Overwhelming majority of the photons zipping about the universe at that time would be within visible spectrum. Universe was by no means dark.
It won't red shift to the point where the background universe would appear dark to the human eye until several million years later.
I think I'm starting to understand. What you're talking about is the blackbody radiation at the moment of last scattering. There seems to be some difference in opinion whether this started at 4000K or 3000K which would mean the difference between a yellow/white glow or red glow. Trivial distinction for my current level of understanding.
You indicate that the CMB would shift out of the visible spectrum after several million years. At this point the universe would be dark for a hundred million years or so until the first stars formed.
In my quest I also happened upon the idea that continued expansion will render the CMB and distant galaxies undetectable.
