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Temperature

Just how hot is 2.725 kelvin?

Deep cold

2.725 K

Scale
2.725 kelvin

Celsius and Fahrenheit have shifted zero points.

2.725 KTemperature
0 K · absolute zero
Cosmic microwave background

The cosmic microwave background is faint thermal radiation filling the universe, left over from the early stages after the Big Bang.

2.725 KTemperature
0 K · absolute zero
Celsius and Fahrenheit zero points are offsets. Compare temperature differences, not ratios in °C or °F. The kelvin axis starts at absolute zero.

A little perspective

2.725 kelvin is the same as the temperature of the cosmic microwave background.

Measurements, assumptions & sources +

2.725 kelvin

Temperature: 2.725 K; definition.

Celsius and Fahrenheit have shifted zero points. Differences are useful; “twice as hot” in °C or °F is not a physical temperature ratio.

NIST — SI conversion factors

Cosmic microwave background

Temperature: 2.725 K; approximate.

The temperature of the nearly blackbody relic radiation. It is not the temperature of every object in space.

NASA — COBE science results

The marked temperature is calibrated. Unmeasured illustration details are representative.

Measurement details

Why these numbers?

Compare 2.725 kelvin with the temperature of the cosmic microwave background. The notes below explain how each value was chosen.

2.725 kelvin

2.725 K

Temperature · definition

Celsius and Fahrenheit have shifted zero points. Differences are useful; “twice as hot” in °C or °F is not a physical temperature ratio.

Cosmic microwave background

2.725 K

Temperature · approximate

The temperature of the nearly blackbody relic radiation. It is not the temperature of every object in space.

Comparing
Temperature ↔ Temperature
Relative size
We compare temperatures using a difference in kelvins, not a ratio.

How to read the visual

The diagram uses the recorded measurements. Details outside the marked spans do not set the scale.

  • The temperature of the cosmic microwave background: This is an estimate; check the notes for its rounding and uncertainty.

Compare temperature differences in kelvins; Celsius and Fahrenheit ratios are not meaningful.

-270.42 °Cdegrees Celsius
-454.77 °Fdegrees Fahrenheit

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