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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
According to current ideas, massive extragalactic systems such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies formed as a result of the growth of small fluctuations in density and velocity which were present in the early stages of expansion of the Universe under the influence of gravitational instability. According to the hot model of the Universe at the epoch corresponding to a redshift z ≈ 1500, recombination of primaeval hydrogen took place and as a result the optical depth of the Universe to Thomson scattering decreased abruptly from about 1000 to 1 - the Universe became transparent. Therefore the observed angular distribution of the microwave background radiation (MWBR) contains information about inhomogeneities in its spatial distribution at a redshift z ∼ 1000. Silk (1968) was the first to note that this “photograph” of the Universe at the epoch of recombination must be enscribed with fluctuations associated with perturbations in the space density and velocity of motion of matter which will later lead to the formation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.