YOLA 07B: Stars in their Eyes - p3

Verb to come together to form one group or mass
coalesced
After the newly-born cosmos had exploded into existence and the heavens had filled with superheated particles, a thin gruel of matter somehow coalesced to produce heavy solid objects.
Noun a tiny particle of light or electromagnetic radiation
photons
"We want to know how the heavens got structure. In short, we want to understand how we got from the Big Bang to human beings." One answer is to build bigger optical telescopes to gather photons from more distant galaxies.
Noun energy that comes in the form of in the form of waves or rays you cannot see
radiation
However, really distant, and therefore older, galaxies recede from us so rapidly that much of their light is transformed - by an effect known as the Doppler shift - into microwave radiation.
Adjective concerning the scientific study of the origin and development of the universe
cosmological
Chajnantor's receivers will be built specifically to collect this precious microwave radiation and help astronomers understand one of science's last major cosmological mysteries: the structured, solid nature of the cosmos.
Noun a building scientists use to study and watch the sky
observatory
But collecting microwave radiation has one major drawback, as Esteban Illanes of the European Southern Observatory, explains. 'It is absorbed by water. An observatory at sea level would pick up nothing.
Verb to draw in energy
absorbed
"All the microwaves coming down from space would have been absorbed by clouds or water vapour in the atmosphere before they reached our instruments. That is why we picked Chajnantor," says astronomer Dr. Murdin.
Verb to get value or use from something
exploiting
Chajnantor is high and dry - perfect for picking up microwaves. This selection is also particularly appropriate, for mankind has been exploiting the aridity of the Atacama desert for millennia.
Noun the process of drying corpses to preserve them
mummification
Atacama desert is the place where mummification -- the process of drying corpses to preserve them -- began.
Noun the quality or state of being firm and stable in shape
solidity
Now, the special conditions that made mummification possible are giving scientists a chance to explain how the universe acquired the solidity that made life possible in the first place. It will be a key scientific milestone.