The Centennial Light is an incandescent light bulb recognized as the oldest known continuously operating light bulb. It was first illuminated in 1901, and has only been turned off a few brief times since.

Apr 2, 2025 · It is the faint echo of the Big Bang, the first light emitted after the universe began to cool enough to allow photons to travel freely. This ancient light has journeyed through space for nearly 13.8 billion years, making it the oldest and most distant light we can observe.

Sep 12, 2017 · In an otherwise unremarkable little firehouse in Livermore, Calif., there is a light bulb that has been burning since it was first set alight — in 1901. The Centennial Bulb, as this light has come to be known, is the longest-lasting light bulb of all time.

5 days ago · This image shows the oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background. It combines new details from the Atacama telescope with older data from the Planck satellite. (Photo: ACT Collaboration; ESA / Planck Collaboration)

Nov 19, 2024 · Unless you literally live under a rock, you probably see one of these every day - the simple light bulb. So commonplace. So unassuming. But did you know that the light bulb actually has a fascinating history that dates back to the late 19th century?

Oct 17, 2013 · The European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope has obtained the most accurate and detailed map ever made of the oldest light in the universe, just 370,000 years after the Big Bang! The map suggests that the universe is expanding more slowly than scientists thought and is 13.8 billion years old—100 million years older than previous ...

Recognition: Declared the oldest known working lightbulb by Guinness Book of World Records. Ripley's Believe-It-or-Not in 1972 researched it and declared it the oldest.

Mar 21, 2025 · New observations with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile reveal the earliest-ever "baby pictures" of our universe, showing some of the oldest light we can possibly see.

Mar 18, 2025 · Astrophysicist Neelima Sehgal is part of the ACT collaboration that through a telescope in Chile has produced unprecedented cosmic images of the oldest light in the Universe STONY BROOK, NY, March 18, 2025 – Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration has produced new images that are the clearest …

Mar 19, 2025 · “We’ve measured more precisely that the observable universe extends almost 50 billion light years in all directions from us, and contains as much mass as 1,900 ‘zetta-suns,” or almost 2 ...