Editing Cosmic Background Explorer (section)

=== Detecting early galaxies ===
DIRBE also detected 10 new far-IR emitting galaxies in the region not surveyed by IRAS as well as nine other candidates in the weak far-IR that may be [[spiral galaxies]]. Galaxies that were detected at the 140 and 240 μm were also able to provide information on very cold dust (VCD). At these wavelengths, the mass and temperature of VCD can be derived. When these data were joined with 60 and 100 μm data taken from IRAS, it was found that the far-infrared luminosity arises from cold (≈17–22 K) dust associated with diffuse [[H I region]] cirrus clouds, 15-30% from cold (≈19 K) dust associated with molecular gas, and less than 10% from warm (≈29 K) dust in the extended low-density [[H II region]]s.<ref name=sodroski>{{cite journal |author=T. J. Sodroski |title=Large-Scale Characteristics of Interstellar Dust from COBE DIRBE Observations |bibcode=1994ApJ...428..638S |volume=428 |issue=2 |pages=638–646 |date=1994 |doi=10.1086/174274 |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |doi-access=free}}</ref>