# What is that - riddle

Through the horn that persistent noise speaks to me
It tells me, by Greek A to C, that we are not here eternally
Then Hebrew Jacob seals the deal, en route to comb the silence
What once was thought is wrong, it's in fact not balanced

Hints:

1

A to C is alpha, beta, gamma.

2

Hebrew Jacob is cobe (common nickname, pronounced cob-E)

3

The silence is outer space.

4 - Practically a spoiler. Just google it if you really want the answer.

COBE and COMB are acronyms, usually COMB is shorthanded CMB.

My physics degree is useful! Did have to google 'Hebrew Jacob', though

The Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB

Through the horn that persistent noise speaks to me


The Horn antenna that Penzias and Wilson accidentally discovered the CMB with in 1964

It tells me, by Greek A to C, that we are not here eternally


Mostly 'Greek C' - a lot of astronomical measurements make use of gamma radiation. Radiating objects are, by necessity, decaying in some way, so aren't going to be around forever.

Then Hebrew Jacob seals the deal, en route to comb the silence


The COBE satellite (COsmic Background Explorer) launched in 1989 to investigate the CMB (comb the silence of space?)

What once was thought is wrong, it's in fact not balanced


It was initially assumed that the CMB should be isotropic (and indeed that the universe as a whole should be). COBE confirmed a slight anisotropy consistent with models of the big bang theory (the start of the universe, not the TV show)

• "It tells me [...] that we are not here eternally" is referring to the fact that the "it" of the riddle provided evidence to support the big bang theory, which says that (unlike what was argued by the competing "steady state" theory) the universe has not existed eternally but had a beginning some number of billions of years ago. – user17947 Jan 9 '16 at 4:00
• Very nice! The fact that you A-C explanation makes sense is a happy accident. I wrote it as a reference to Alpher, Bethe and Gamow - the three authors of "The Origin of Chemical Elements" (the origin being the big bang). Plus what Big Black Box explained for the second half of the sentence is correct. – scf Jan 9 '16 at 19:21