Open Directory - Science: Astronomy: Cosmology: Cosmic Background Radiation
- One of the homepages of the BOOMERanG project, a balloon-borne millimeter-wave telescope designed to study the anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Includes a project overview, a blog, and data releases. - Homepage for a research project that, in 1998 and 2003, used a balloon-borne telescope to measure minute anisotropies of the cosmic background radiation. Features press releases, technical papers and data files. - Basic explanations of key concepts related to the cosmic background radiation, including the big bang models of an expanding universe and the ripples in the density of the early universe that led to the galaxies and stars that can be seen today. By Wayne Hu (University of Chicago). - Contains both original data and descriptions for NASA's past missions to explore the cosmic background radiation, notably about the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. - Homepage of an ESA mission due to be launched in late 2008, and designed to make precision measurements of the cosmic background radiation. Includes an image gallery, a science overview, a technical overview and additional material. - A series of scientific experiments flying as balloon payloads in Antarctica, designed to measure the medium-scale anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). [PDF] - Information about the cosmic microwave background radiation by Douglas Scott (University of British Columbia). Includes texts for a general audience, an FAQ, a number of images, and links to related sites. - Review article by A. W. Jones and A. N. Lasenby (Cambridge University) about the electromagnetic remnants of the big bang phase. Requires undergraduate-level physics knowledge. Published in the electronic review journal, Living Reviews in Relativity. - Homepage of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a NASA satellite launched in 2001. The goal of WMAP are precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background, the "electromagnetic echo" of the big bang phase of the early universe.
