Cosmic microwave background experiments

NASA Cosmic Microwave Background probe launched in 2001

former ESA space observatory

NASA space observatory

telescope at the South Pole

sub-orbital experiment which studied the properties of cosmic microwave background radiation

radio telescope

Radio telescope at the Paul Wild Observatory, near the town of Narrabri in New South Wales, Australia

telescope in Chile

cosmic microwave background experiment

radio telescope in the Canary Islands

The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy, also known as the Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA), is a radio telescope designed to observe the cosmic microwave background and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies. It is located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii, at above sea level.

QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrument, while DASI is a famous CMB interferometry experiment credited with the first detection of CMB polarization. QUaD used the existing DASI mechanical infrastructure but replaced the DASI interferometric array with a bolometer detector at the end of a cassegrain optical system. The mount has housed the Keck Array since 2011.

microwave interferometer

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.

telescope installed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica

QUIET was an astronomy experiment to study the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. QUIET stands for Q/U Imaging ExperimenT. The Q/U in the name refers to the ability of the telescope to measure the Q and U Stokes parameters simultaneously. QUIET was located at an elevation of 5,080 metres (16,700 feet) at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Chilean Andes. It began observing in late 2008 and finished observing in December 2010.

RELIKT-1 from (sometimes RELICT-1) was a Soviet cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiment launched on board the Prognoz 9 satellite on 1 July 1983. It operated until February 1984. It was the first CMB satellite (followed by the Cosmic Background Explorer in 1989) and measured the CMB dipole, the Galactic plane, and gave upper limits on the quadrupole moment.

observatory in Chile

Archeops was a balloon-borne instrument dedicated to measuring the Cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. The study of this radiation is essential to obtain precise information on the evolution of the Universe: density, Hubble constant, age of the Universe, etc. To achieve this goal, measurements were done with devices cooled down at 100mK temperature placed at the focus of a warm telescope. To avoid atmospheric disturbance the whole apparatus is placed on a gondola below a helium balloon that reaches 40 km altitude.