| Location(s) | Antarctica |
|---|---|
| First light | 29 December 2012  |
| Telescope style | balloon-borne telescope cosmic microwave background experiment radio telescope |
| Website | groups |
The E and B Experiment (EBEX) will measure the cosmic microwave background radiation of a part of the sky during two sub-orbital (high-altitude) balloon flights. It is an experiment to make large, high-fidelity images of the CMB polarization anisotropies. By using a telescope which flies at over 42,000 metres high, it is possible to reduce the atmospheric absorption of microwaves to a minimum. This allows massive cost reduction compared to a satellite probe, though only a small part of the sky can be scanned and for shorter duration than a typical satellite mission such as WMAP.
The first flight was an engineering flight over North America in 2009.[1] For the science flight, EBEX was launched on 29 December 2012, near McMurdo Station in Antarctica.[2][3] It circled around the South Pole using the polar vortex winds before landing on 24 January 2013 about 400 miles from McMurdo.[4]
- ^ Reichborn-Kjennerud, Britt; et al. (July 15, 2010). "EBEX: A balloon-borne CMB polarization experiment". SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V. San Diego: SPIE. arXiv:1007.3672. Bibcode:2010SPIE.7741E..1CR. doi:10.1117/12.857138.
- ^ Blog post from a member of the EBEX science team describing the launch.
- ^ YouTube video of the EBEX launch.
- ^ Blog post describing the landing.