Cosmic Static

In 1932 Jansky published the first of a series of papers indicating that a certain type of static appears to come from space and in particular from the plane of the Milky Way. Very few other data are available on the disturbance. Various hypotheses have been advanced to account for the phenomenon but all have failed under quantitative calculation. The writer became interested in this work about three years ago. It was decided to make measurements at various frequencies with equipment of high resolving power. Intensity is plotted versus galactic longitude in Fig. 4. The rest of the directions around the Milky Way will be measured during the coming year as they arrive in good position.