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The Cosmic Background Imager (or CBI) is a 13-element interferometer perched at an elevation of 5000 metres at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Chilean Andes. It is used to study the cosmic microwave background. It was one of the first experiments to accurately measure small angular-scale fluctuations in the microwave background; it has also detected fluctuations in the polarization of the microwave background. Its measurements are conducted at a wavelength of about 1 cm (or a frequency of 30 GHz) and have a resolution of better than 1/10 of a degree. In comparison the pioneering COBE satellite, which produced the first detection of fluctuations in the microwave background in 1992, had a resolution of about 7 degrees. Among the key findings of the CBI is the fact that fluctuations which have a small size on the sky are weaker than fluctuations which have a large size on the sky, which confirmed earlier theoretical predictions. Interferometry is the applied science of combining two or more input points of a particular data type, such as optical measurements, to form a greater picture based on the combination of the two sources. ...
The metre, or meter, is a measure of length, approximately equal to 3. ...
Llano de Chajnantor Observatory is an astronomical observatory located at 5104 m altitude in the Chilean Atacama desert, 50 kilometers to the north of San Pedro de Atacama. ...
The Andes between Chile and Argentina The Andes form the longest mountain chain in the world. ...
WMAP image of the CMB anisotropy,Cosmic microwave background radiation(June 2003) The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is a form of electromagnetic radiation that fills the whole of the universe. ...
In electrodynamics, polarization (also spelled polarisation) is a property of waves, such as light and other electromagnetic radiation. ...
The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), also referred to as Explorer 66, was the first satellite built dedicated to cosmology. ...
The CBI was built at the California Institute of Technology, and employed sensitive radio amplifiers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory; two similar experiments are the Very Small Array, operated on the island of Tenerife, and the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer, operated in Antarctica. Both of these experiments used radio interferometry to measure CMB fluctuations at lower resolution over larger areas of the sky. Another experiment operated from Antarctica, the Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver, used total power (bolometric) detection and a single antenna at higher frequency and similar angular resolution to obtain results comparable results to the CBI. The confluence of these and other CMB experiments employing different measurement techniques in recent years is a great triumph of observational cosmology. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ...
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is an institution set up by the United States government for the purpose of radio astronomy. ...
The Very Small Array is a 14-element interferometer perched at an elevation of 3000 metres on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. ...
Flag of Tenerife Tenerife (English also Teneriffe), a Spanish island, is the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. ...
See also
The Very Small Array is a 14-element interferometer perched at an elevation of 3000 metres on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. ...
Artist depiction of the WMAP satellite at the L2 point The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is a NASA satellite whose mission is to survey the sky to measure the temperature of the radiant heat left over from the Big Bang. ...
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