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The CMB has a nearly uniform temperature of approximately 2.725 Kelvin. This uniformity reflects the homogeneity of the universe at the time the CMB was emitted and now provides a baseline for observing minute anisotropies due to cosmic structures.

The CMB was discovered by accident in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. Its detection provided strong evidence for the Big Bang Theory because it is the afterglow of the Universe's formation, corresponding to a time approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang when photons could finally travel freely.

The spectrum of the CMB is nearly a perfect black body radiation curve, which indicates that the universe in its early stages was in thermal equilibrium. This finding supports the Hot Big Bang model of the universe.

The CMB exhibits a low level of polarization, which is thought to be caused by the scattering of light off electrons during the era of recombination. This polarization encodes information about the early Universe's conditions and the potential influence of primordial gravitational waves.

The CMB is the result of photons decoupling from matter and freely streaming through space since the era of recombination. This event marks the 'last scattering surface' and provides a view of the Universe approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

The CMB is redshifted due to the expansion of the universe, with the photons originating from a much hotter and denser phase. Its observation at microwave wavelengths instead of gamma or x-rays is direct evidence of cosmic expansion since the Big Bang.

Launched in 1989, NASA's COBE satellite provided precise measurements of the CMB, confirming its perfect black body spectrum and detecting anisotropies, which was pivotal in advancing our understanding of cosmology and the Big Bang theory.

The Planck satellite, launched in 2009, improved upon COBE and WMAP observations, providing a higher resolution map of the CMB. This has led to improved estimates of cosmological parameters such as the Hubble constant, the density of baryonic matter, and the age of the Universe.

Anisotropies in the CMB are small temperature fluctuations that provide a snapshot of the early universe. These inhomogeneities eventually led to the formation of galaxies and large-scale structures in the Universe. The study of anisotropies helps cosmologists understand the formation and evolution of the Universe.