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Spider (polarimeter)
Spider is a balloon-borne experiment designed to search for primordial gravitational waves imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Measuring the strength of this signal puts limits on inflationary theory. The Spider instrument consists of six degree-resolution telescopes cooled to liquid Helium temperature (4 K) which observe at frequencies of 100 GHz, 150 GHz, and 280 GHz (corresponding to wavelengths of 3 mm, 2 mm, and 1.1 mm). Each telescope is coupled to a polarisation-sensitive transition-edge bolometer (TES) array cooled to 300 mK. Spider was the first instrument to successfully demonstrate time-domain multiplexed TES detectors in a space-like environment. At the time of the first flight over Antarctica in 2015, Spider was the most sensitive microwave instrument ever made. The primary science goals include: # characterization of the curl-free component of the CMB polarization on the largest scales # searching for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Gravitational Wave Background
The gravitational wave background (also GWB and stochastic background) is a random gravitational-wave signal potentially detectable by gravitational wave detection experiments. Since the background is supposed to be statistically random, it has yet been researched only in terms of such statistical descriptors as the mean, the variance, etc. Sources of a stochastic background Several potential sources for the background are hypothesized across various frequency bands of interest, with each source producing a background with different statistical properties. The sources of the stochastic background can be broadly divided into two categories: cosmological sources, and astrophysical sources. Cosmological sources Cosmological backgrounds may arise from several early universe sources. Some examples of these sources include time-varying scalar (classical) fields in the early universe, "preheating" mechanisms after inflation involving energy transfer from inflaton particles to reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BICEP And Keck Array
BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) and the Keck Array are a series of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. They aim to measure the polarization of the CMB; in particular, measuring the ''B''-mode of the CMB. The experiments have had five generations of instrumentation, consisting of BICEP1 (or just BICEP), BICEP2, the Keck Array, BICEP3, and the BICEP Array. The Keck Array started observations in 2012 and BICEP3 has been fully operational since May 2016, with the BICEP Array beginning installation in 2017/18. Purpose and collaboration The purpose of the BICEP experiment is to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. Specifically, it aims to measure the ''B''-modes ( curl component) of the polarization of the CMB. BICEP operates from Antarctica, at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. All three instruments have mapped the same part of the sky, around the south celestial pole. The institutions involved in the vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Instruments
Astronomical instruments include: *Alidade * Armillary sphere *Astrarium * Astrolabe *Astronomical clock *the Antikythera mechanism, an astronomical clock *Blink comparator *Bolometer *the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant *Celatone *Celestial sphere *Charge-coupled device *Computers *CMOS sensor *Coronagraph *Cosmolabe *Dioptra *Equatorial ring *Equatorium * Gnomon * Inclinometer * Interferometer * Kamal *Meridian circle * Microchannel plate detector *Mural instrument *Nebra sky disk *Nocturnal * Octant *Optical spectrometer, a.k.a., Spectrograph *Orrery *Photographic plate *Photometer *Planisphere *the Prague astronomical clock * Quadrant *Reticle *Radio plate *Retroreflector * Scaphe * Sextant * Starshade *Space telescope *Spectrometers *Sundial *Telescope *Torquetum * Triquetrum *Zenith telescope See also *Astronomy *Outline of astronomy *Surveying instrument *Measurement instrument {{DEFAULTSORT:Astronomical instruments Instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LiteBIRD
''LiteBIRD'' (''Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection'') is a planned small space observatory that aims to detect the footprint of the primordial gravitational wave on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in a form of polarization pattern called B-mode. ''LiteBIRD'' and OKEANOS were the two finalists for Japan's second Large-Class Mission. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Microwave Background
In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all space. It is an important source of data on the early universe because it is the oldest electromagnetic radiation in the universe, dating to the epoch of recombination when the first atoms were formed. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies (the background) is completely dark (see: Olbers' paradox). However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope shows a faint background brightness, or glow, almost uniform, that is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s, and earned th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility
The Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) (established in 1961, formerly known as the National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)) is a NASA facility responsible for providing launch, tracking and control, airspace coordination, telemetry and command systems, and recovery services for unmanned high-altitude balloons. Customers of the CSBF include NASA centers, universities, and scientific groups from all over the world. Mission CSBF has a threefold mission: * Provide maintenance, operations and logistics support for NASA's scientific balloon program and facilities. * Provide sophisticated ground and flight systems for launch, control, data retrieval, commanding, and recovery of NASA's balloon missions. * Perform research and development to advance the capabilities of NASA's suborbital programs. History The Balloon Facility was established by Vincent E. Lally at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado in 1961 under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. It was moved to Palestin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo. By road, McMurdo is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from New Zealand's smaller Scott Base. History The station takes its name from its geographic location on McMurdo Sound, named after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of . The ''Terror'', commanded by Irish explorer Francis Crozier, along with expedition flagship ''Erebus'' under command of James Clark Ross, first charted the area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
