QMAP was a balloon experiment to measure the anisotropy of the
cosmic microwave background (CMB). It flew twice in 1996, and was used with an interlocking scan of the skies to produce CMB maps at angular scales between 0.7° and 9°.
The gondola was later used for ground-based observations as the MAT/TOCO experiment; so named because the instrument was called the
Mobile Anisotropy Telescope and it was positioned at
Cerro Toco
Cerro Toco is a stratovolcano located in the eastern part of the Atacama desert in Chile's II Region (Antofagasta), approximately south of the border between Bolivia and Chile and SE of the Juriques and Licancabur volcanoes. It conforms th ...
in the
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
. It was the first such experiment to localize the position of the first acoustical peak in the CMB.
See also
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Cosmic microwave background experiments
This list is a compilation of experiments measuring the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation anisotropies and polarization since the first detection of the CMB by Penzias and Wilson in 1964. There have been a variety of experiments to ...
*
Observational cosmology
Observational cosmology is the study of the structure, the evolution and the origin of the universe through observation, using instruments such as telescopes and cosmic ray detectors.
Early observations
The science of physical cosmology as it is ...
References
Physics experiments
Cosmic microwave background experiments
Balloon-borne telescopes
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